Mile High
by debbiexmx
Summary: Present day story. Rose & Jack meet on their way to New York for work. But they are both in relationships. Will they give in to their obvious attraction to each other?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Next!"

Rose was standing in a dream, not realising that she was being called.

"Excuse me Miss." A voice came from behind her followed by a slight nudge in the arm.

"What?" Rose turned to see the man behind her pointing towards the security area. She realised that she had been called forward. "Oh sorry, I was away in a dream there."

The man laughed softly as Rose walked towards the waiting security officer. She was currently in LAX, going through security before boarding a flight to New York for a meeting. She had decided to fly there a few days before her meeting was actually due to take place as she wanted to ensure she was fully prepared for pitching her ideas to the team that she was meeting.

She put her bag up on the desk to allow the officer to slide it through the x-ray machine and then took her jacket off to hand that over as well. The man behind her had moved to another desk. She was suddenly aware of someone standing quite close to her. Turning her head slightly, she could see the shape of a man next to her who was also taking his long coat off. He turned his head to face her and smiled.

Rose smiled back. She looked him up and down discreetly. He was extremely handsome with the most amazing blue eyes she had ever seen. His light blond hair kept falling in front of his eyes so he had to keep brushing it back.

She followed him through the metal detector machine and they met again at the other side. Standing waiting on her bag coming through, Rose felt a tickle on her ear. She gently rubbed it, causing her earring to fall out. Hearing the metal bounce off the floor, she looked around to see where it had gone. As she bent down to pick the earring up, the man she had admired had also noticed it dropping. He knelt down, grabbing the earring from the floor. He looked across at Rose and handed it to her.

"Thank you."Rose managed; surprised she was even able to talk.

"No problem. It's a beautiful earring. Couldn't have you walking about with only one of them." The man laughed.

Rose smiled before standing back up. She hooked the earring back in before grabbing her bag and coat. She took one last look at the man, nodding to him before walking towards the departures area.

Rose decided she would get something to eat before flying. Her flight wasn't for another hour so she still had some time to kill. She wandered over to a nearby bar and put her things down and settled into the booth. Looking over the menu, she decided what she would have. The waiter came over and took a note of her order. Rose had decided to have a plate of pasta and a glass of red wine. The waiter thanked her and disappeared to the kitchen.

Rose took out her pocket mirror from her bag. She checked her hair which she had pinned up in a messy bun. Her hair was auburn and usually hung in loose curls. Today there were only a few strands hanging at the front which framed her face. She ran her finger along the bottom of her eye. Rose had only applied some mascara that morning. Her eyes were so big and beautiful that she rarely had to wear heavy eye makeup. They were a bright emerald colour and nothing needed to be added to make them gorgeous and interesting. It was one part of her face that she loved.

The waiter brought her meal across and she tucked into it, stopping only to take a drink from her wine. When she finished, she sat back and looked around her. Her eyes hovered across the people sitting in the lounge waiting on her flight. She noticed that sitting next to the window, watching the planes take off and land, was the man she had seen at security. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. She thought of her boyfriend at home. Cal was alright but Rose had got involved with him purely to appease her mother, Ruth.

Ruth had talked Rose into dating Cal when her father had died. They were left with a string of his debts to deal with and had no idea how they were going to pay them off. Rose was living her own life at the time but felt she owed it to her mother to help. She had tried paying some of the debts off herself, she had a good job working in PR and earned a decent salary but there was only so much she could do. Ruth had met Cal's father, Nathan at a gala that she had attended. Despite their difficult financial circumstances, Ruth refused to let her "club" know anything about it. As far as they were all concerned, she was still as rich as she always was. When Nathan had told Ruth that his son was looking for a wife, Ruth spied her opportunity. She gushed about Rose and told Cal all about her. After showing him a picture, Cal was adamant he wanted to meet her.

Ruth had to talk Rose into going along to meet Cal for dinner but eventually she agreed. They had gotten on alright but Rose found Cal extremely over whelming. He was selfish and cocky. Always looking down his nose at people. They met up again a few more times and before she knew it, Cal had asked her to be his girlfriend exclusively. Rose felt that she couldn't back out now and agreed. She figured that she would learn to love him, but 6months later, she still couldn't truthfully say that she did. She told Cal she did whenever he told her but she mentally crossed her fingers whenever she said it.

Sighing, Rose took another drink of her wine. She looked back up and realised the man from earlier was looking directly at her. She blushed as she felt his eyes burning into her, almost as if he was mentally undressing her. She kept her head down and played with her phone. Finally she looked back up and noticed that he was gone.

"Attention all passengers flying to JFK on flight delta 0082, we would like to invite those passengers travelling first and business class to please come forward to gate 14."

Rose's ears pricked up as she heard her flight being called. She grabbed her bag, stood up and walked towards the gate. She handed over her boarding card before looking back behind her to see if she could see the man one last time. She sighed as he was nowhere to be seen. Smiling at the woman at the gate, she then walked past her and down the aerobridge to the plane.

Sitting down in her seat, she placed her bag on the floor and took her jacket off before handing it to the stewardess to hang up. She didn't mind the trips that she had to do for work when her boss put her in first class. The thought of 5 and a half hours in a plane to New York in coach was enough to make her shudder. She lay back and closed her eyes, her head facing towards the window. The rest of the passengers had made their way onto the plane and Rose was aware of a few more people sitting around her but before she knew it she had drifted off into a deep sleep as she felt the plane take off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Rose managed to stifle a yawn as she slowly opened her eyes. She wiped the tears that had emerged from yawning before looking around her. She noticed a man sitting in the seat across from her but before she could get a decent look at him, the stewardess appeared in front of her to see if she wanted a drink. Rose smiled and asked for a red wine. The woman nodded and disappeared back to the front of the plane. Rose turned her head back around and realised that the man had similar coloured hair to the guy she seen back at the airport. The stewardess appeared back and handed Rose her wine with a glass. Rose took it and placed it down on her tray table before turning back to the man. As she did, she realised that he was now facing her. Her breath caught in her chest as she realised it was the same man.

"Nice to see you again." He finally said.

Rose smiled. "You too. Thanks again for picking up my earring."

"No problem at all." He leaned over and held out his hand. "The names Jack."

"Rose." She took his hand and shook it, not feeling the need to give anymore of her name than that. The chances of her seeing him once they reached New York were slim.

The two sat for the next couple of hours talking. Rose had learnt that Jack had just started a new job in the media and was on his way to New York to meet with a few agents. Rose had told him about her job and how she was on her way to try and land a TV deal on behalf of one of her clients. They spoke about their lives back home. After talking for a while, they realised that they only lived a town away from each other. Jack told her that he lived with his girlfriend, Laura, at home and Rose told him about Cal. Rose sat listening to Jack talking about his life and realised that he was in a similar situation to herself. He didn't seem happy with his girlfriend but tried to stick with it, assuming it probably would start to get better.

"Not to blow my own trumpet, but she's a bit obsessed with me." Jack laughed. Rose looked at him with a strange look on her face. "Nah, she just is a bit jealous. Doesn't like it when I go away. This job will kill her. They told me it would be a lot of travelling. To be honest I was glad when I got offered the job, it meant I didn't need to be home all the time."

Rose could relate to that. She was glad to be away for the weekend, away from Cal. To be honest, the innocent flirting with Jack made her feel alive again. He had moved into the seat next to her and kept touching her arm when they were talking and laughing together. Rose could feel the electricity shooting through her whenever Jack touched her. Their faces were so close to each other that she could smell his scent. She couldn't deny that he smelt amazing.

_She is so beautiful _Jack thought to himself. He had been amazed by her beauty when he had seen her in the airport, he couldn't believe his luck when he had boarded and seen her sitting on the other side of the plane. It's a shame they were both seeing someone. They lived so close to each other, yet they had never met before. Jack wondered if he would get to see her again after they landed.

"So, where are you staying?" He asked, taking a drink, unsure if she would actually tell him, given that they had just met a few hours before.

"The Marriott hotel on Broadway. My office is just down the street from there." Rose exclaimed.

Jack almost choked on his drink. "Are you serious?"

Rose nodded. "Why? What's wrong?"

Jack picked up his bag and took out his travel wallet, handing Rose his reservation for his hotel, clearly showing the same hotel.

"Wow, what a coincidence." Rose stuttered. She panicked a bit at first that this stranger would be staying exactly the same place as her, but quickly composed herself. Sure, she didn't really know him but they had sat talking for so long that she felt like she'd known him for a long time. There was something in his eyes that showed her she could trust him.

"Well Jack, would you care to share a cab when we land? Not much point in getting separate ones if we're going to the same place." Rose asked him.

Jack looked surprised. "I'd like that Rose."

They sat and spoke for the remainder of the flight. She talked to Jack about so many different things, things she could never speak to Cal about. Jack wasn't interested in her family name or who she worked for. That was trivial. He wanted to get to know the real Rose. He knew that after they left each other that night, they'd probably see each other around the hotel. It was nicer to keep an air of mystery about them, it added to the excitement.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

After landing and collecting their bags, Jack and Rose made their way outside to get a cab. They found one parked outside and quickly jumped in. Jack gave the driver the address and they sat together in the back seat. Rose had intended on getting more sleep on the plane so now she could feel her eyes closing. She opened them again but they quickly closed over with the smooth motion of the car. As she drifted off, her body fell limp against Jack. He looked down and seen that Rose had fallen asleep. Her head was now rested on his shoulder. He didn't know what to do. His natural instinct was to put her arm around her but he knew that if she woke up and found him doing that, she would freak out. Instead he slightly turned his body towards her so she would be more comfortable. Her head had now moved to his chest. She reached up and absentmindedly scratched her head. After doing this, she felt comfortable lying where she was. She nuzzled her head into the nook of Jack's arm and his chest before draping her arm across his stomach. Jack froze. He looked down at her, she was so beautiful. He reached up and tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear then ran his finger down her cheek. She smiled in her sleep.

Just as Jack was starting to enjoy the closeness between them, the car screeched to a halt.

"This is your stop." The driver announced.

Rose's eyes shot open. She took in her surroundings and realised where she was. She noticed her arm draped across the man next to her. She slowly looked up to see Jack sitting next to her.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." She sat up quickly.

Jack laughed. "Don't worry about it. You looked so comfortable that I didn't want to wake you."

The both got out the cab and made their way into the hotel. The bellboy came out to pick up their bags. Rose walked to the front desk to check in, with Jack standing behind her.

"Thank you for staying with us again Miss, you will be in room 403. I hope you have a pleasant stay."

Jack moved toward the desk after her. He got his room key and turned towards the lift to see Rose still standing there. He had been given the key to room 310. He walked towards her and smiled as they waited on the elevator together.

Once the lift arrived, the both walked in. Rose leaned against the mirrored wall and closed her eyes again.

"I'm so tired" she laughed. "I'll be glad to get into bed."

Jack smiled, trying to push the image of Rose in bed from his mind.

The lift stopped at floor 3 and the doors opened.

"Well Rose, It's been a pleasure meeting you. I hope to see you at some point over the next few days." Jack took her hand, shaking it and leaned in to give her a quick peck on the cheek, shuddering at the softness of her skin.

"You too Jack. I'll be working from here for the next couple of days before my meeting on Thursday, if you would like to get a bite to eat or something?" Rose offered.

"That would be great. I'm sure I'll see you at some point then." Jack flashed her another smile as the lift doors closed in front of him.

It was only then that Rose realised she had been holding her breath. "Wow." She said out loud. The lift then opened at the 4th floor and Rose stepped out. She got to her door and as she unlocked it, she realised she was shaking.

Getting inside, she sat down on the bed, trying to take in the events of the day. Finally she stood up and started to unpack. She set up her laptop and put her phone on charge before walking through to the bathroom and switching on the shower. She undressed and stepped under the water letting it run over her hair and down her back. She lathered up the soap and rubbed it all over her body before washing her hair. After standing in the shower for twenty minutes, she finally switched it off and stepped out the shower tray. Rose wrapped a towel around her chest and used another to towel dry her hair. She stood up suddenly as she heard a knock at the door. Stepping back into the bedroom, she glanced at the clock. _11.30pm...who's calling at this time?_ She looked out the peephole but couldn't see anyone. Slowly opening the door, there was no one in front of her. She stepped out and looked to the side. Her mouth opened as she realised who was standing there.

"Hello Rose. Hope I'm not disturbing you." He said, eyeing up the towel she was wearing.

"Not at all Jack. What can I do for you?"

"I just wondered if you would be interested in a nightcap?" Jack was hopeful when he had left his room but not so much now that he had seen Rose was getting ready to go to bed.

"How did you know where I was?" Rose asked.

"I overheard the guy on reception telling you your room number. Sorry I know it's a bit stalker like." Jack looked down at his shoes.

Rose laughed. "No, don't be silly. Come on in and I'll just go get dressed."

Jack followed her in and she motioned for him to sit on the couch at the window. "Make yourself at home, I'll be ready in ten minutes."

She quickly dried her hair in the bathroom and got dressed into a pair of jeans and a top. She didn't see the need for getting dressed up if they were only going downstairs to the hotel bar. She stepped out and Jack stood up to greet her. She looked him up and down. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a tight T shirt which showed off the rippled effect of his chest and stomach. Rose could feel herself getting turned on just looking at him. He walked towards her till he was standing in front of her.

"Ready?" he asked.

Rose hesitated. He was so close to her. "Yeah sure." She finally answered.

Jack went to step forward but Rose still didn't move. He held his hand out to her and she took it. He looked deep into her eyes and moved his gaze down to her lips. They were so full and red. He thought about what it would be like to kiss her. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about doing this. His girlfriend was sitting at home, but something about this woman thrilled him. The excitement got to him. The chances of him ever seeing her again after this week were slim. No one would ever have to know if anything happened with them. They both had a lot to lose so it wasn't as if it was completely one sided. He couldn't deny the sexual tension between the two of them, he had felt it since they met at airport security, when their hands touched when he handed her the earring back.

Before he knew what he was doing, he realised that he had been leaning closer to her. Their lips were almost touching now. He lifted his hand and ran it down her cheek, rubbing his thumb against it.

"I'm sorry, this isn't right. I can't do this." Rose broke away from him. "Were both in relationships. Yeah ok we're not happy in them but we're with someone nonetheless."

Jack looked down. He couldn't hide the hurt in his face but he conceded that she was probably right. "You're right Rose, I'm sorry. I just got carried away. Friends?" he held his hand out to her.

Rose grinned. "Of course. Just don't be trying that again" she teased.

Jack laughed. "Shall we get that drink then?"

Rose nodded. She walked towards the door, lifting her purse and key and walked out with Jack following her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

They sat in the hotel bar until it closed at 1am. Rose couldn't remember the last time that she'd had so much fun. Jack was extremely funny and she had tears rolling down her cheeks, laughing at him. They had sat and talked about everything and anything. Rose had told him how much she wanted to see the city. That she'd never had the chance. Never been on the Staten Island ferry, never been to see a Broadway show, and never got lost in Macy's. There was so much she felt that she had missed out on.

They finished their drinks and made their way back to the lift. Both of them now quite merry from the drinks they had.

Rose fell against the lift wall, still laughing at Jack making silly impressions of people. Jack put his hand on the wall next to her, leaning towards her. She slowly stopped laughing and looked up at him. Before she knew what was happening, Jack had leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. He pulled away quickly from her, unsure how she was going to react. Rose looked at him, not at all surprised. She knew this was coming, the only thing that did surprise her, was that she knew she wanted it too. She had stopped it earlier but now her inhibitions were lowered and Cal had gone completely out her mind. She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He responded by hungrily kissing her back. He pressed her up against the wall, running his hands up and down her body.

The lift doors opened at Jack's floor and he beckoned her out, holding his hand out to her. She happily took it and followed him to his room. As they reached the door, Jack tried to open it whilst pressing Rose up against it and kissing her neck. She had started to lift up his T shirt as they both finally fell through the door. Jack pulled her top up over her head and started to unbutton her jeans. Rose couldn't get enough of him as she allowed herself to fall onto his bed. Jack yanked her jeans down past her ankles and threw them on the floor.

"Now this isn't very fair. I'm almost naked and you're still fully dressed." She smiled.

Jack laughed at her and pulled his T shirt off. Rose stared at him looking him up and down. She was amazed by his body. Sitting up, she grabbed at his jeans and unbuckled his belt and pushed them down. He kicked them off to the side and climbed onto the bed on top of Rose. He kissed her gently, they were finally able to catch their breath and lay there just kissing and staring at each other.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jack asked her, kissing her ears and neck.

Rose nodded. She reached up to kiss him again, massaging her tongue along his. Rose pushed him off her and reached her arms behind her back and unhooked her bra. Jacks eyes lit up in amazement as she revealed her pert breasts. She lay back down and Jack moved over her before kissing her neck. He trailed kisses down her shoulder and chest before stopping at her breasts. He cupped them gently and circled his tongue around her stiff nipples. His other hand drifted down her flat stomach before he hooked a finger around her panties. He slowly started pulling them down. Rose used her legs to assist him in pulling them down. Jack moved down her body and tugged them down past her feet. He moved slowly back up, taking all of her in. He left a trail of kisses up the inside of her legs before he reached her inner most thighs. He slowly parted her legs and buried his head between them. Rose cried out in pleasure as Jack expertly kissed and licked her. Rose had never felt anything like this. Cal never bothered with foreplay apart from when he was receiving it so to have Jack go down on her like this was an amazing experience for her. She arched her back as Jack slipped his tongue inside her. She ran her fingers through his hair, gently tugging on it, she willed him to speed up. As he did, Rose felt a sudden rush of pleasure building up inside her. Jack refused to stop, keeping licking her until she eventually came. He looked up at her and gave her a sexy smile as he started kissing all over her stomach and breasts. He stood up and ran his fingers around the waistband of his boxers before he slowly pulled them down.. Jack stared at him in amazement as he revealed his impressive length. She decided she had to have him right there and then. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down onto the bed. He lay on his back and Rose scrambled on top of him. She gave him a wicked smile before taking his full length in her mouth. Jack gasped as he felt Rose's mouth tighten around him. She slowly licked and sucked him ensuring she covered every single inch. He had never had a girl do this to him so well. He moaned as Rose continued to suck him off, but knowing he would come soon if she kept going, he grabbed her arms and pulled her up to him. Rose knew that they both wanted each other badly. She happily straddled him, taking his whole length inside her, gasping as he filled her perfectly, as if they were one person, completely meant for each other. Jack put his hands on her hips and slowly guided her up and down. After a while, she picked up speed and soon enough, Jack was pounding her hard. Rose cried out as she felt herself come again all over him. Feeling this, Jack knew he couldn't take much more. He let out a scream and his body jerked underneath her as he came deep inside her.

They lay there for a few minutes before Rose finally climbed off him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder allowing her to lie with her head on his chest. Rose could feel his heart beating extremely fast and his whole body was shaking.

"You're trembling." She finally said.

"Don't worry about me." He smiled. "I'll be alright."

Rose lay there for a while longer before sitting up and swinging her legs out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked her.

She turned back to face him. "I need to go back to my room."

Jack looked hurt. "Why not just stay here?"

Rose looked at him, unsure of what to do. "Why? Surely you know that what we just did is as far as it's going to go?"

Jack's face must have clearly shown that he was upset by her abruptness. "Look Rose, we both have our own lives when we go back home, but why not, for now, just enjoy each other's company? I mean, we both know that when we go home, we're probably going to be unhappy again. Why not just enjoy being happy right now?"

Rose smiled. He was right. When they got home, they probably would never see each other again anyway. And no one had to know about this. With that, she climbed back into the bed and snuggled in next to him.

"That's better" Jack laughed. He took her in his arms again and held her tightly until he felt her body go limp, indicating she had fell asleep.

A few hours later, the sun began to pour into the bedroom through the space in the curtains. Jack squinted his eyes as the light hit his face. He realised he was still lying the same way he had been when he fell asleep. He looked down and saw Rose's brilliant red hair. She was still naked, her chest pressed against his stomach and her legs entwined with his. He smiled to himself, secretly wishing he could wake up like this every day. He had seriously been considering breaking up with his girlfriend but never had the push he needed to go through with it. Rose had shown him that he could be happy, that he could meet someone else who could just blow his mind. He knew what he had to do when he arrived home. Jack knew it was always going to be a difficult conversation and his girlfriend would automatically assume that something had happened when he was on his trip. Even if he never seen Rose again after this week, he knew that staying with Laura would make him miserable.

Suddenly he felt Rose moving next to him. She sat up, the sheet falling away from her. She rubbed her eyes then looked down realising that she was naked. She pulled the sheet back up over her before looking behind her. She saw Jack's angelic face looking back up at her smiling. Her heart melted when he sat up and took her in his arms, kissing her cheek.

"I really should get back. I've got some work to get on with." Rose told him.

Jack looked disappointed but nodded, he knew that they were both here for work and that had to take priority.

Noticing his disappointment, Rose smiled. "Would you like to have dinner tonight?"

Jack's eyes lit up. "I would love that, Rose." I can come by your room about 6?"

Rose nodded as she swung her legs from the bed and pulled her underwear back on. She got up and picked up her other clothes and got dressed. Jack watched her intently, memorising every curve of her body.

She bent down and gently kissed him before making her way to the door. "I'll see you tonight then Jack." She called back to him before closing the door behind her.

Jack fell back onto the bed and smiled to himself. He was going to take Rose out for an amazing night. Dinner at a nice restaurant, then maybe dancing afterwards, or a show. Jack decided he would go out that day and look around to try and decide the best place to take Rose.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rose made her way back to her room. She started to undress so she could have a shower when she remembered she had left her phone behind last night. Her heart was suddenly in her throat as she knew Cal had probably tried phoning her. She picked it up and realised that Cal had tried contacting her. 12 missed calls and 3 new voicemail messages.

_Uh oh _Rose had a huge feeling of dread. She knew Cal would be angry that he couldn't get in touch with her. She didn't want to even listen to the messages but knew she had to know what she would be facing. Rose dialled the voice mail and listened as Cal gave her a barrage of abuse down the phone. _Jack would never speak to you like this. _ Rose found herself thinking about her handsome lover. She finally cut the phone off and checked the time of the first call that Cal had made. It was about 10minutes after she left to go to the bar with Jack. It was now only 8am. Rose started to dial Cal's number but remembered it would only be about 5am in L.A. Cal would already be angry. He didn't need to be pissed off anymore by Rose waking him up. She decided just to text him. She told him that she had been so tired when she arrived at the hotel that she had went straight to bed so must have been extremely tired that she never heard the phone going. She closed the phone over and placed it back down on the table. She had barely made her way to the bathroom when the phone started to ring. She lifted it up and checked it.

_You've got to be kidding me. _ She thought as she seen Cal's name on the screen. _What's he doing up?_

Rose knew she would have to answer now. He'd clearly been sitting up waiting on her contacting him.

"Where the hell have you been?" Cal shouted after Rose answered the phone, not even managing to say hello.

"Darling, I thought you would be asleep."

Rose sat for the next ten minutes as Cal had a go at her for not answering. "I was tired, what do you want me to do? I had to go to sleep."

She sighed as she finally managed to calm him down. She put the phone down after they had said their goodbyes. She leaned back in the chair she was sitting in when something caught her eye at the door. She looked round and saw a yellow note had been put under the door. She walked over and picked it up.

_Meet me in the foyer at 6pm. Dress up! Jack x_

Rose smiled, wondering what Jack had planned. Dress up? He must want to go somewhere up market. She walked towards the bathroom and stepped inside smiling as she thought about the day ahead.

Rose finally stopped working at about 5pm. She decided to start getting ready before she would meet Jack. Rose was glad she had packed a few nice outfits in case she had decided to go out one night.

After washing her hair, she dried it and tried to decide what to do with it. Eventually she curled it and left it down so the curls would fall down over her shoulders. She put on some make up before choosing what to wear. While Rose was getting ready, she had taken a drink from the mini bar and slowly drank it. Once she was finished that, she realised that it was almost 7. Rose went to the closet and pulled out the dress she had chosen to wear, a black dress which came down to just above her knees. It had lace detail over it and had a round neck with a little belt around the middle. Rose slipped her feet into her black peep toe heels and grabbed her coat and bag.

She made her way downstairs to the foyer. Her heart was pounding. She was looking forward to seeing Jack but for some reason she was extremely nervous. As Rose emerged from the lift, she saw Jack standing by the main door looking outside. He must have heard the sound of her heels on the marble floor as he turned around to face her.

_Oh my god. _Jack thought as she walked towards him. The shoes and dress she was wearing made it look as though her legs went right up to her ears. She was absolutely stunning. Jack made his way over to her, took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

Rose thought he looked extremely handsome in his suit. He had a crisp white shirt on underneath which brought out the tanned colour of his skin.

"So where are we going then Jack?" Rose asked.

"Ah, you'll see." Jack smirked. He led her outside to the waiting cab. Jack held the door open for her as she climbed inside. He sat down next to her and pulled the door closed. The driver pulled away from the hotel. Rose realised how secretive he was being, he must have already given the driver the address before she appeared.

Rose looked through the car window at the flashing lights, mesmerised by it all. Jack could see her staring out at it. "It's amazing isn't it? He smiled at her.

Rose nodded. "You know, I've lost count of the number of times I've been to New York but I've only ever seen hotels and meeting rooms. I've never made the effort to actually come out and see the city. It's beautiful."

Jack was proud that he was the one showing her these sights. _Her boyfriend should make the effort to show her places like this. It's the least she deserves._ Jack thought to himself.

He stared at her watching the buildings until the car pulled up at the side of the road. Jack jumped out and ran round to the other side of the cab opening the door for Rose. She took his hand and stepped out, taking in her surroundings. She looked up and realised they were standing outside "Nobu"

Jack smiled. "I remember you telling me you loved Japanese food and this is one the best places in town."

Rose couldn't believe that Jack had gone to so much trouble for her. Cal never made as much effort at this. Usually if they were going out for dinner, Cal took her to the same old sleazy steak house where the floors were sticky and the food was undercooked. It wasn't as though Cal was strapped for cash. Quite the opposite actually but he certainly was frugal, if not a little cheap.

"Jack how did you even get a reservation here?" Rose was still in shock.

"Oh a friend of a friend helped me out." Jack laughed. ""Come on, let's go get our table."

The 2 sat for the next hour eating their dinner and just generally enjoying each other's company. Jack sat staring at her as she was telling him stories about her childhood. She was utterly amazing. Jack watched as her red hair fell in front of her hair as she leaned forward. Every so often she would touch Jack's arm and he felt the electricity shoot through him. Even though he was listening to her, his mind drifted back to Laura. She had tried to call him several times since he arrived in the city but he just kept ignoring it. To be honest, he didn't want to speak to her. He hadn't been happy with her for months. Jack knew when he got home; he had to break up with her. Even if he never saw Rose again after this week, he knew he couldn't keep living a lie with someone that he truly didn't want to be with.

After they had their dessert, Jack glanced at his watch.

"Keeping you from something?" Rose teased.

"Uh, actually yes. We need to get moving if we've to get to the next thing on my list." Rose was confused. "There's more?" she laughed.

"Of course there is! You didn't think I was only going to take you out for dinner?" Jack threw the money down on the table and held his hand out to Rose. She happily took it, following him wherever she was taking her.

Jack flagged down another cab and asked the driver to take them back up to the hotel.

Rose looked at him. "I thought we were going somewhere else?"

"We are. You'll see."

The taxi dropped them off at Times Square. Jack helped Rose from the cab again and he started to walk her back down Broadway until they finally stood outside the Minksoff Theatre. Rose turned to look at Jack. "What are we doing here?"

"Well, I remember you saying last night that you always wanted to see a Broadway show, so here we are! I got us tickets to see The Lion King." Jack couldn't hide the smile from his face.

Rose just stared at him. Jack's smile started to fade. "I just thought you would enjoy it."

Rose suddenly turned away from him.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked, concerned that he seemed to have done something to upset her. He tugged on her arm until she turned back around. Jack could see her eyes were filled with water. "Rose, what's wrong?"

"No one's ever done anything like this for me." Rose was completely overwhelmed. She'd known Jack for two days and he'd shown her more affection and love than what Cal had shown her in 6months. She wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you so much, I just don't know what to say."

Jack kissed her cheek softly and held her tight. "Come on, let's go inside."

3 hours later they emerged from the theatre. Rose hadn't stopped talking since the show ended.

"Jack, that was amazing! The costumes, the singing! I just can't even describe it!"

Jack loved seeing how excited she was. He wanted to do this forever; he wanted to make her happy. He knew that the guy she had at home wasn't making her happy. Jack could do that. He knew they had only known each other a couple of days but there was something about Rose. There was fire within her. He loved that about her, he loved how passionate she was. Rose linked her arm through Jack's as they started walked back towards the hotel. They didn't speak the rest of the way, not even when they got to the hotel, not even when they got in the lift. They didn't need to. They both knew where they wanted to be. Jack went to press the button for his floor but Rose pulled it away. She pressed number 4 before turning round and looking deep into Jack's eyes. Jack smiled at her as she fell into his arms. They staggered from the lift when the door open and made their way to Rose's room. She pushed the door open and they fell inside. Rose closed the door behind them and made her way over to Jack, pushing him onto the bed. They made love that night and Rose didn't give Cal a second thought, not even when she could hear the vibrations from her phone on the table.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Unfortunately, Rose knew that despite how much fun she was having with Jack, she still had a meeting to prepare for and now only had one day to get herself organised. She promised Jack that they would spend all day on Friday together before she was due to fly home on the Saturday afternoon.

It was now Wednesday and Rose instructed herself that she was not leaving the hotel that day until it was at least time to have dinner. She was due to meet with her workmates that night as they were all flying in that afternoon.

Rose settled down to her laptop and started work on her presentation. By the time she next looked at the clock, she realised it was past 3o clock. Rose silently congratulated herself for working straight through; she was extremely happy with her work and was adamant that she would not be leaving New York without her client signing on the dotted line on a contract for a 20 episode TV show.

Closing her computer down, she decided to take a nap before phoning her friend Caroline to see where they should meet.

2 hours later, Rose finally woke up. She sat up and lifted her phone from the night stand. Cal had tried to call her again. They hadn't spoken since Tuesday morning after Rose came back from Jack's room and Rose was enjoying the peace and quiet but she knew it wouldn't last. Dialling Cal's number, she braced herself for another shouting match.

"Hello sweetpea, I was getting worried." Cal's insincere greeting made her skin crawl. Rose knew he was more interested in why she hadn't answered.

"I've been working all day Cal. I just took a nap before dinner. I'm just about to get ready before I meet Caroline for dinner." Rose told him. She had nothing to hide, it was the truth. They spoke for another 10 minutes before hanging up. Rose next called Caroline. She was her best friend. Hated Cal, so Rose couldn't wait to open a bottle of wine and tell Caroline everything about Jack. The two arranged to meet at a nearby restaurant. Rose quickly got dressed into a figure hugging dress and hurried downstairs to meet her friend so was waiting in the lobby.

"Hey!" Caroline shouted as she saw Rose. The two women hugged as they made their way out of the hotel.

"Oh my god! You slept with him?" Caroline exclaimed.

Rose tried to shush her, laughing as she realised that people had started staring at them. "I didn't mean to!" she tried to deny it but Caroline could see that glow in her friends face. "He just makes me feel like I'm alive. I don't need to act a certain way, he doesn't expect me to be anything else apart from who I am."

"You've fell for this guy haven't you?" Caroline asked her bluntly.

"Oh come on! I've only known him for a couple of days." Rose couldn't deny that she felt physically attracted to Jack, but love? Rose wasn't even sure that she knew what love was. Cal certainly never really showed her.

The two women sat for the next few hours drinking and talking. Rose was glad that her meeting wasn't due to start until 12pm, she knew she was going to have such a hangover the next day. Caroline walked her back to her hotel just after midnight. They hugged before Caroline disappeared down the street leaving Rose to walk into the hotel.

Rose crawled into her bed and stretched out. She realised that it felt strange going to bed now and not having Jack lying next to her. It felt odd being alone. Suddenly she realised that she missed him. Rose reached over to pick up the phone to call Jack's room but stopped herself. She didn't want to call him in the middle of the night, she didn't even know if he would be there. He maybe wouldn't want to see her. _I bet this is just a fling for him. Before he needs to go back to his girlfriend. Don't get obsessive about him! _Rose scolded herself and rolled back round, willing herself to fall asleep.

The light shone through the bedroom and Rose squinted her eyes, cursing herself for not closing the drapes before she had fell into bed the night before. She rolled round to check her phone for the time. _10am_. She had missed breakfast in the hotel. Rose got up out of bed, feeling better than she thought she would have done, and pulled on some sweats. She decided to go for a run and get some breakfast before making her way along to the office.

After a 30minute run, Rose stopped for some pancakes and then made her way back to the hotel. She knew that she wouldn't see Jack that morning. He had an important meeting that day as well so had probably already left. Rose realised that her and Jack had never actually discussed work. She had no idea what he did for a living. She knew that he worked in media but that was it, they'd never felt the need to know anything more than that.

Walking back up to her room, she walked into the shower and let the hot water run down her body. She washed her hair before dragging herself from the steaming room. She quickly dried her hair and pulled on the smartest suit she had. Eyeing herself in the mirror, she was impressed. She packed up her laptop and grabbed her briefcase and purse before walking out the room.

Despite the office only being a 10minute walk, Rose decided to flag down a cab. The last thing she wanted was to walk into the meeting feeling sweaty.

Climbing out the cab, she met Caroline outside who was having a cigarette. She offered Rose one who gratefully took it, needing something to calm her nerves. Rose wasn't normally nervous but this deal was huge for her company. She couldn't mess it up.

Rose and Caroline walked into the building and towards the lift. They looked at each other and giggled like schoolgirls as the lift arrived at their floor. Stepping out, they made their way to the meeting room and Caroline pushed open the door. She smiled as she seen that some of the TV studios agents were already there and held the door open for Rose. The two women sat down at one side of the table and Rose finally looked around her at the faces sitting at the table. Suddenly her face dropped as eyes landed on him.

_Jack._

He held his hand out to her. "Jack Dawson." Rose smiled, finally learning his full name. _What is he doing here? _She thought.

"Rose DeWitt Bukater."

"I'm gonna have to get you to write that one down." Jack laughed.

She laughed at him before taking her seat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The meeting went well. Despite the blond headed distraction at the other side of the table, Rose had managed to secure the deal for her client. Once the contracts had been signed, Rose stood up to shake hands with the others before her eyes turned to Jack. He stood in front of her and held out his hand giving her a cheeky grin. They had managed to stay professional despite the sexual tension between them.

"What are you doing here?" Rose whispered to him.

"We'll talk later. Dinner?" Jack laughed

"Yeah, about 7?" Rose nodded before pulling her hand from him and walking out the door to meet Caroline.

"What was all that about? Who was that?" Caroline quizzed her as she emerged from the conference room.

Rose linked arms with her and they walked towards the lift. "Remember that guy I was telling you about?"

"That was him?" Caroline almost shouted. Rose shot her a look and quickly looked behind her, hoping no one heard her.

"Yeah, I could have died when I seen him. What are the chances? I knew he worked in media but I didn't realise he'd be from the TV station." Rose and Caroline walked to the nearest bar to celebrate. Rose told her she would only be able to stay for a few drinks as she was meeting Jack for dinner.

They shared a bottle of wine as they spoke about Jack and how Rose felt about him. "Well I'll hand it to you Rose, he's gorgeous. You live so close to each other, why don't you just dump Cal and tell Jack how you feel?" Caroline couldn't believe that Rose was wasting her time on Cal. She couldn't stand him. From what Rose had told her about Jack, she was hooked. Jack treated her well, he had listened to things that she had told him and he acted on them, taking her to a show, out to fancy restaurants, really spoiling her. The only thing that worried Caroline was the fact that Jack was also with someone else. If he could easily cheat on this girlfriend, what would stop him doing it to Rose?

"OK, I've got to go."Rose interrupted her thoughts and drank the rest of her drink. She lifted her bag and stood up from the table, bending down to kiss Caroline on the cheek.

"Call me tomorrow night and we'll make arrangements to meet at the airport on Saturday." Caroline smiled.

"No problem will do!" Rose called as she rushed from the bar. She wanted to get back and get a shower before meeting Jack.

Jack sat in the lobby waiting for Rose. He couldn't believe she was in the same meeting today. Jack was fairly new in the job so was still learning but he was extremely impressed by how she handled herself that afternoon. She was firm and straight to the point with what she wanted, but showed willingness to negotiate. He had tried to concentrate on what had been happening but the whole time he couldn't take his eyes off her in her power suit. All he wanted to do was rip her shirt off and take her right across the boardroom table but he was sure that would probably be highly inappropriate. He chuckled to himself until he heard the sound of heels on the lobby floor. He spun around in his chair to see Rose walking towards him. Jack looked her up and down as he stood up to greet her. _She looks more beautiful every time I see her._ Jack thought to himself.

He took her hand and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. "Come on then."

Jack and Rose spent the night having dinner before moving onto a few bars and finally onto a club. They danced the night away before jumping in a cab back to the hotel. The two couldn't keep their hands off each other in the back seat of the car, clawing at each other's clothes and kissing each other in almost every exposed part of skin. They finally made it back to the hotel before the staggered up to Jack's room, ensuring they hung the "do not disturb" sign on the outside.

The next day, Rose and Jack spent the whole day together. Jack took her down to catch the ferry across to Staten Island so she could see the Statue of Liberty and then he bought them tickets for one of the tour buses. Rose was completely in awe of the city. It was so much different from California, it seemed a lot bigger and the buildings made her feel tiny and insignificant. She couldn't thank Jack enough for what he had done for her this week.

Eventually they stopped for a bite to eat. It was almost 6 o clock and they'd hardly eaten all day. Jack wanted them to finish eating by 8. He had plans for Rose.

Once they finished eating, Jack glanced at his watch. It was 7.45pm. He signalled to the waiter to bring them the check.

"Plans?" Rose laughed.

"You'll see!" Jack sniggered as he put the notes down on the table and held his hand out to Rose. She took it and followed him from the restaurant. They started walking back towards the hotel. Rose was about to walk through the doors when Jack continued to pull her further up the street.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"I told you. You'll see." Jack continued to walk further away from the hotel before finally turning into W 49th Street. They walked along before Jack suddenly stopped outside the Rockefeller Center.

"Come on." He encouraged her, pulling her towards the entrance. They stepped inside and Jack walked away from her to the ticket booth. Rose couldn't hear what he was asking for so she just looked around her as she waited. Jack finally came back to her and pulled something from his pocket. Rose looked at him. "What's that?"

"Do you trust me?" Jack asked.

Rose was taken aback by his question. Did she really trust him? She hardly knew him, but she knew she could trust him. Why did she even have to question that?

"I trust you." She finally answered.

Jack stepped behind her and put a black cloth over her eyes. He softly tied it at the back of her head and took her hand placing it on his arm. "Come on, just follow me."

Jack led her towards the elevator and they stepped inside. After what felt like hours, the elevator finally stopped. Jack guided Rose out and walked her towards the edge of the room. He looked at his watch, 8.20pm. _Just in time. _He thought.

"Jack, what's going on?" Rose asked him, a slight nervousness sound in her voice.

"You're so impatient Rose." Jack laughed at her. He walked behind her and untied the cloth from her head. Rose took a few seconds to adjust her eyes to her surroundings. She took in a sharp intake of breath as she realised she was standing at the top of New York, taking in the most beautiful sunset that she had ever seen.

Rose was speechless until she finally cleared her throat. Jack had his arms wrapped around her waist smiling to himself.

"I've never seen anything so extraordinary." She stuttered. "It's breathtaking."

Jack buried his face in her neck, gently kissing it. Rose couldn't take her eyes of the amazing sights in front of her. She finally turned around to look at him.

"Jack, no one has even done so much for me. In such a short time, you've shown me what it's like to be alive. You've shown me things I never thought I would ever see. I don't know how I could ever thank you." Rose looked at her feet.

Jack lifted her chin. "You don't need to thank me Rose. I've had the most amazing few days with you, I really don't want this to end." He looked into her eyes, searching for any kind of sign that she felt the same.

"Neither do I Jack, but where do we go from here? I mean, I'm going home tomorrow. To Cal. You're leaving the next day and you'll be going home to Laura. I know I don't want to be there but I don't know how to deal with it. Cal can be extremely domineering. I know there's no way he'll let me go without a fight. I mean, saying that...do you even want to leave your girlfriend?" Rose realised that she had just assumed that's what he meant. Perhaps he meant that he wanted them to have some kind of sordid affair when they arrived home. Rose knew that she wouldn't be able to hide that from Cal for very long.

"Rose, I want to be with you. I've been thinking this over since our first night together. I'm going to break up with Laura as soon as I can. I need to think of the best way to do it, but yes – I want to be with you."

Rose was completely overwhelmed. She hadn't expected this to happen. She fell into his arms and kissed him passionately. "We'll work something out. When we get home, we'll do what we need to do."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

A few days later, Rose was back in Beverly Hills. Cal had come to pick her up from the airport. Rose had barely spoken to him the whole journey. All that was on her mind was Jack; she had to hold in tears as she left him behind. She knew that Jack would also be home by now. Rose wondered if he was thinking about her. Had he told Laura that they were over? She checked her phone – nothing. They had swapped numbers the day that Rose was leaving so they could keep in touch and she was hopeful that she would hear from him. It was now Monday and Jack had flown back to LAX the previous day.

_Why hasn't he called? _Rose thought. He maybe hasn't been able to talk to her yet. Rose realised that she would need to talk to Cal as well. _I'll wait until I hear from Jack. _She told herself.

Rose was driving home from work. It had been a great day. Her boss was extremely pleased with her work in New York and had given her the rest of the week off along with a $1000 bonus, also Cal had been called away urgently for work and wouldn't be back until Thursday. Rose couldn't help but smile at herself.

Rose was driving along Melrose Ave with the top down on her car. It was a beautiful day but she didn't feel like going home. She wanted just to drive somewhere. Driving along Santa Monica Boulevard, Rose passed the turn to go along her street and just kept going until she reached the freeway. Subconsciously, Rose didn't know where she was going. She just kept driving. Before she knew it, she was looking out to the ocean. Rose pulled up into a car park and looked out across the water. Jack had told her about this place. Santa Monica. How could she never have been here? Rose had started to realise over the past week just how sheltered she was. All she did was work, go home, look after Cal, go to bed, then start it all over again the next day. Cal never really took her anywhere unless it was a fancy dinner with some of his colleagues, and even then he only took her so he could show her off like she was just something decorative.

"Jack! Where are you going?" Rose's thoughts were broken by a high pitched shrill coming from the beach. She got out the car following her curiosity after hearing the name that meant so much to her. Moving to the front of the car and leaning on the bonnet, she looked around to try and see where the voice had come from. She saw an angry looking girl holding a dog on a leash running down the beach. She looked like she was chasing someone. Rose followed her until she stopped. She couldn't make out exactly who she was now talking to, all she could see was blond hair blowing in the wind. Her breath caught in her chest, willing him to turn so she could see his face. The woman was getting angrier. She kept hitting him on the arm and pushing him. People were starting to stare at her, wondering what was going on.

"What do you mean we're finished? Where has this came from? What happened on that trip Jack?" The woman demanded. Rose smiled. She couldn't believe Jack had gone through with it. She had assumed that as soon as they got back home, he would probably put it down to a bit of fun to lighten up a business trip.

"Nothing! Nothing happened! I've been thinking about this for a while. You can't honestly say we've been happy these past few months?" Jack finally sat down on the sand looking out to the water.

"No, I know we haven't but we can make it work. So we're going through a rough patch, who doesn't?" Laura tried to cuddle into him but he just shook her off.

"It's over Laura, ok. I don't love you anymore. I think you should move out." Laura looked shocked. All of a sudden she stood up and stormed off, dragging the poor dog with her.

"That's fine Jack, I'll be gone by the time you get back." She yelled behind her.

Rose couldn't believe what she had seen. She didn't know what to do. She felt completely frozen to the spot. Just because Jack had finished with this woman didn't mean that he wanted her. _Should I just go? And wait until he call's?_ Rose was torn. Part of her wanted to run to Jack and take him in her arms. The other part wanted to leave the ball in his court.

She watched as he finally stood up and walked towards the steps. He was coming right towards her. Rose knew he hadn't seen her yet. She stood up and walked back towards her car door and sat inside. Slipping her sunglasses on, she put the car in reverse and started to pull out of the parking space. Jack looked up and saw the car pulling away. He didn't pay much attention until the car turned and the woman's red hair caught in the wind blowing it wildly across her face.

_Red hair._

Jack's eyes widened as he realised it was Rose. His Rose. She had come for him. He had been terrified to call her in case she was no longer interested. And now she was about to drive out his life? Not a chance!

He picked up speed and started running towards her screaming her name. Rose pulled up to the exit of the parking lot, looked both ways before pulling away. Jack ran back to his car and jumped inside, quickly putting the car in gear and tearing out of the parking lot after her.

Jack lost her on the freeway. He couldn't see her car anywhere. This was California, there were plenty silver convertibles around. Jack kept looking for her bright red hair. He knew he would recognise it anywhere. He headed to Beverly Hills, which was as much as he knew about where she lived. He pulled up to a stop sign, feeling extremely frustrated. He couldn't believe he'd lost her. Jack decided to drive around for another ten minutes before he would stop and call her. He figured that would have given her enough time to get home.

Jack looked around him as he waited for the lights to change. He glanced in his rear view mirror before he pulled away when the flash of red stopped him. It was her. Jack couldn't believe it. He must have passed her somewhere on the freeway without even realising. Jack pulled away, constantly looking in his mirror, determined he wasn't losing her again. He let her pass him so he could follow her. Rose hadn't spotted him yet as she pulled into her street. Jack watched her as she pulled into the drive way of an extremely large house. He pulled into the other side of the road and stared at her as she got out the car and walked towards the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Jack got out his car and walked towards the house. He walked up to the door and went to ring the doorbell when he stopped. _What if her boyfriend's here? I could pretend I'm a work colleague. She left something at work. But what? _Jack looked around him. He had come with nothing.

Jack decided he had nothing to lose. He rang the doorbell and waited for what felt like an eternity until the door finally opened.

"Jack?"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N – Hey all! Thanks for all your reviews on this story. I'm shocked at the number of hits this story has had! I'm really suffering a bit of writers block with it to be honest. Any suggestions you all have for where you'd like this story to go would be hugely appreciated! I'm not sure how I want Cal to deal with all this. To be honest, I'm not sure I want to paint him as the ogre that he usually is. But should she tell Cal straight away? Or should they carry out a sordid affair behind his back? Or should they decide that its not as fun when their not away from their normal lives? Let me know what you think! Thanks!**

**Chapter 9**

Rose looked at him in shock. How did he find her? She had arrived back home and crumpled behind the front door, tears rolling down her cheeks. She could kick herself for walking away from him. She'd had an amazing few days with him but she had assumed that was as far as it would go. They'd had fun together but was it realistic to expect him to give up his life for her? But now here he was, standing at her front door.

"What are you doing here?" she finally asked him.

Jack smiled. "I saw you at the beach. Why did you leave?"

Rose opened her mouth to answer. She had no idea he had seen her, but now that she knew, she couldn't answer him. She didn't know why she walked away. "I don't know Jack. I saw you arguing with that girl. I'm assuming it was Laura?"

Jack nodded. "I had to finish with her. Even if you had told me you never wanted to see me again after last week, I would have still broken up with her."

Rose studied him. She knew he was telling the truth. Suddenly it dawned on her that they were still standing on the porch. "Come in."

"Are you sure? What about your boyfriend?" Jack was worried about intruding like this.

Rose smiled. "He's away on business for a few days. He won't be back until Thursday."

Jack's eyes lit up. He had thought about this moment ever since he left her at the airport. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to see her again.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Rose asked, breaking his train of thought.

"Sure, I'll just have a coffee." Jack sat down on the sofa. He looked around him trying to take in Rose's house. It was huge compared to his. His eyes drifted across to the large patio doors and took a sharp intake of breath when he seen the huge pool surrounded by beautiful palm trees. He stood up and walked towards the door to look outside.

"You've got a beautiful house Rose." He said, suddenly feeling like he didn't belong.

"Thanks. After I got my promotion last year, buying this place was the first thing I did. I had an house in Pasadena that I had done up and had been renting out for the past 2 years so that gave me some disposable income and then when I sold it on, I got enough back on it to put a deposit down here. I was sick of living at home and I'd saved up every last cent that I could just so I could afford a place like this." Rose handed him his drink. "Luckily my dad gave me quite a bit of money last year so I kept it in the bank and never touched it. Saying that, if I had known just how bad his finances were, I would have never taken the money from him. But he made me promise never to tell my mom about it. He must have known he didn't have long left." Rose stopped herself. _Why did I go into all that?_

"I'm so sorry Rose." Jack put his hand on hers.

"Honestly it's fine. It was hard at first but I'm ok now." Rose squeezed his hand. "Anyway, what did you come here for Jack?"

Jack looked her deep in the eyes. "I came here for you Rose. Something's changed in me this last week. I've never felt like this about any girl before. I've never really been in a relationship where I've wanted to spend every waking moment with the other person. But I look at you, and I don't want to be anywhere else."

"Jack..." Rose started.

"Please, let me say this." Jack pleaded. "I don't want to be anywhere else and I don't want to be with anyone else. I think I'm falling for you Rose."

Rose was completely gobsmacked. She had never expected this. She hadn't spoken to Cal yet but at that moment, she didn't care. She couldn't care if she never saw him again. As soon as he came home, she would tell him to move out. Jack was the one she was meant to be with. She believed in fate and she believed that fate brought them together, put them on the same flight, into the same hotel and into the same meeting. What else could be the reason? A cruel joke that God was playing on them? Rose leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

Rose finally pulled away from him. "I love you Jack."

Jack smiled. "I love you too Rose."

Rose stood up and held out her hand to him. He smiled and took it before she started pulling him towards the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Jack grinned.

"Come on!" She laughed. "It's been too long since I've felt you touch me."

Jack smiled and followed her quickly up the stairs. They both fell into Rose's bed and started to tear away each other's clothes. Before they knew it, they were both naked and Jack climbed between Rose's legs. He slowly slipped himself inside her, filling her entirely. Jack made love to Rose slowly, constantly kissing her. Rose gripped onto Jack's shoulders as she felt herself tighten around him. Jack released himself deep into her, his forehead pressed against hers.

"Wow." He smiled.

Rose kissed his cheek before Jack rolled off her. She looked out the balcony windows and saw it was starting to get dark.

"We should get something to eat. Will you stay here with me tonight Jack?" Rose asked him.

"Of course I will. As long as you're sure that Cal isn't going to appear any time soon." Jack let us a nervous laugh.

"Definitely not. He'd need me to pick him up at the airport anyway." Rose rested her head on his shoulder as he tightened his arms around her.

Jack stayed with Rose for the next few days, leaving only to go to some appointments in the mornings. He told his boss that he would be working from home for the next few days. They spent their days relaxing by the pool, swimming, going out for meals, making love and just generally enjoying each other. Rose couldn't wait until Cal came home so she could get him out her life for good. She knew her mother would never approve of her decision. Even though Jack had a good job, he wasn't able to secure the same financial security for her mother as Cal would have. But Rose didn't care. Her mother had never really cared about her, and at the end of the day, it wasn't up to Rose to keep Ruth in that style that she had become accustomed to. Ruth needed to learn that there wouldn't always be someone there to look after her, that she would need to learn to do it herself.

Jack left the next morning.

"I'll call you as soon as he's gone." Rose promised. "His flight lands at 6pm so we should be home by 7 at the latest."

Jack kissed her goodbye and disappeared in his car.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

That evening, Rose drove to the airport to pick Cal up. He hadn't sounded in a great mood when he had called her earlier on in the day before he boarded his flight. She had hoped that he had lightened up a bit since then as Rose knew there was no way she could do this is he was in a foul mood.

Sitting outside the airport, Rose watched for Cal appearing from the arrivals hall. She spotted him and flashed her lights so he could see her. Cal walked across the road to meet the car.

_Just take your time Cal, I'm not in a hurry or anything. _Rose cursed.

Cal opened the door and sat on the seat, putting his bag down at his feet. He reached over and gave Rose a quick peck on the cheek.

Rose could suddenly feel the nerves building up inside her. She had butterflies in her stomach and conversations flashed through her head as she thought about how to broach the subject of her leaving Cal.

"Good day sweet pea?" Cal finally broke the silence.

Rose glanced at him. "Yes thank you. How was your trip?"

"Oh it was dull, pointless and a complete waste of time. Much the same as these trips always are." Cal stated bluntly.

They sat in silence for the rest of the journey. The guilt started to build up inside of Rose and she started to think that Cal was being silent because he suspected.

_Don't be ridiculous._ She told herself. _There's no way he could know._

They finally arrived home and Cal got out and made his way through the front door. Rose followed him and sat down on the large leather sofa. She put her feet up and turned on the TV.

"I'm going upstairs to take a shower." Cal disappeared up the stairs without waiting on any response from Rose.

He wasn't interested in talking. Rose knew this wasn't going to happen tonight. She picked up her phone and quickly sent a message to Jack telling him she would try and do it tomorrow.

Jack picked up his phone when he heard it beeping, hoping that it was Rose telling him he could go through. His face dropped when he read it. _It's not fair. _He thought. _She shouldn't be afraid of him. It's not right._

He put the phone back on the table after texting her back. Feeling extremely frustrated, Jack lifted the phone again and called his best friend Fabrizio to see if he wanted to go for a beer. He couldn't just sit in the house thinking about Rose.

Life continued like that for days afterwards. Cal was constantly in a mood and Rose couldn't find the right time to tell him. At the back of her mind, she had hoped that things would become so bad between them that Cal would eventually call it a day. They hadn't slept together since before Rose went to New York. Even kissing seemed to become a strain. Rose couldn't bring herself to allow him to kiss her properly. What's worse was that he didn't seem to care. She wondered how long he would put up with this and hoped he would suddenly declare he had had enough. She knew it was the coward's way out but she was scared about how he would react. She also worried about how long Jack would wait on her. He had split up with Laura a couple of weeks before and was desperate to be with Rose.

Jack sat in his office messing around on the internet and sending emails. He couldn't concentrate. What was going on? He knew that this wouldn't be easy but he felt as though Rose had been stringing him along. Was she just using him? They hadn't seen each other since he had left her house the day she was due to pick Cal up from the airport. They had text and emailed but Rose just kept telling him that she was working on it. Jack was honestly beginning to think he had wasted his time. He didn't regret dumping Laura, that had to be done regardless of what happened with Rose but he was getting impatient waiting around for her.

A week later, Rose had finally had enough. She decided that regardless what was going on with Cal she was telling him tonight that it was over. She would tell him that she would go and stay with Caroline to give him some peace to get his things together. Rose had had enough trying to find the right time. Tonight was the night.

She walked into the living room after getting home from work and found Cal sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

"Cal?" She asked quietly. He didn't respond.

"Cal?" She repeated, louder this time.

Cal lifted his head and looked at her. He smiled and beckoned her to come to him. "Sit down Rose, we need to talk."

Rose wasn't sure what was going on. She knew she didn't like it though. Cal wasn't normally one for sitting having conversations.

Rose walked over to him and sat next to him. He took her hands and looked her in the eye. "This isn't working is it?"

Rose was completely taken aback. She wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. "What do you mean?" She finally asked.

"I mean us. We haven't been happy for some time, have we?" Cal stated abruptly as if there was no other answer than the one that agrees with him.

Rose shook her head. _This was better than I hoped for. _ Rose kept her face looking solemn. If she could let Cal go with his dignity intact then she would. She knew she never loved him and that he was a bit moody and shouted at her a lot but he never caused her any real pain. He would make someone happy but she wasn't that girl.

The two sat talking for the next hour about where their relationship had gone wrong. Rose never mentioned Jack at all.

"I'm going to get my things together tonight. I might need to come by tomorrow though for the rest." Cal rubbed her hand.

"That's fine Cal, take as long as you need. I can go to Caroline's tonight if you want." Rose offered.

"No, that's not necessary Rose, it shouldn't take me too long. I've been getting some things together while you were at work." Cal smiled.

"What?" Rose was surprised. "You knew you were going before we had even talked?"

"Well yes, I knew we couldn't stay together, there was no point dragging it out. Anyway, I should get going." Cal stood up and offered his hand to Rose, pulling her to her feet. He put his arms out to hug her and Rose fell into them, taking one last smell of his cologne.

She watched as Cal loaded his bags into the car. He kissed her on the cheek as he said goodbye and drove off.

_Well at least my mother won't blame me for finishing with him._

Rose walked back inside, closing the door behind her. She went straight for her phone and rang Jack.

"Fancy staying over tonight?" She asked when he answered.

**A/N – I decided that I didn't want to paint Cal as the ogre that he normally is in these stories. I thought that would be really predictable if he went mental if Rose had finished with him. I hope that you all don't mind me doing that!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Jack grabbed a bag and packed it with enough clothes to see him through for a few days. He didn't know how long he would be staying with Rose. He ran around his house picking up bits and pieces that he needed. He couldn't keep the smile from his face. Finally Rose would be his. All this stressing out over the past couple of weeks would be worth it. He knew he was going to Rose's tonight and would be able to lie next to her in bed and fall asleep beside her, holding her, kissing her soft skin.

Jack ran out to his car, threw his bag in the back seat before pulling away. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he made his way to Rose's house. He couldn't contain his excitement as he finally pulled up outside. Grabbing the bag from behind him, he got out the car and walked to Rose's front door and rung the doorbell.

"Jack!" She cried, throwing her arms around him, almost pushing him down onto the ground.

"Glad to see me then?" Jack laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"You bet I am!" Rose pulled away from him and grabbed his hand, pulling him inside.

Over the next few weeks, Jack and Rose spent every waking minute together. They loved being in each other's company and spent their time mostly at home or at the beach. Rose was worried that Cal would cause them problems if he found out about their relationship, but she hadn't heard a thing from him. Rumour had it that he'd met someone else. Rose was happy for him; she wanted him to move on from her.

Rose was at home one evening, cooking dinner when Jack came home from work.

"I need to go back to New York." He announced.

Rose turned around to face him. "When?"

"Thursday. Just for a couple of days." Jack told her. He tried to gauge her response; she seemed to be angry or upset. "Are you ok?"

Rose thought about what he was telling her. She'd spoken to Caroline a few days before who had voiced her concerns if Jack was to go away again. She was worried that as he had cheated so easily on Laura, that he could quite easily do the same to Rose.

"Yes, I'm fine Jack." She finally answered.

"Are you sure? You seem upset." He reached out for her.

"I'm alright, honestly." Rose turned back around and continued with the dinner.

"Ok then." Jack shrugged, disappearing up stairs to get changed.

Rose put her hands down on the kitchen unit and sighed. She hadn't ever thought about it before but ever since she had spoken to Caroline, the thought of Jack being with someone else swirled round in her mind constantly. She knew it was possible, at the end of the day they hadn't been together that long. She decided not to say anything to Jack. She didn't want to come across as possessive or jealous so early in their relationship. That would definitely push him away.

Rose tried to act as normal as possible for the next couple of days until she took Jack to the airport. Pulling up outside, Jack leaned across and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I love you Rose." He smiled.

Rose forced a smile. "I love you too."

Jack kissed her again before getting out the car. He turned to wave to her but Rose had already pulled away. _What is wrong with her? _He thought to himself. He wasn't sure if he had done something but he knew that Rose had been off with him for the past few days. He shrugged it off, hoping she would be in a better mood when he got home.

Rose drove home, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. _This is ridiculous_ She thought. _Jack wouldn't cheat. He wasn't happy with Laura. He is happy with me. _Rose knew her argument made sense, she had to put this to the back of her mind or she was going to push him away.

That night, Rose had been sitting watching TV. It was 8pm and she hadn't heard from Jack all day. It was 11pm in New York and she thought he would have at least let her know that he'd landed safely. Rose picked up her phone and checked it again. _Nothing. _She wondered where he was. Perhaps he'd arrived and went straight to bed. Rose decided she wouldn't contact him, she would leave the ball in his court and allow him to make the first move.

A while later, she looked at the clock at it was now 9.30pm. Still having heard nothing from Jack, she lifted up her phone and pressed in his number. Putting it to her ear, she waited as it rang.

"Hello?" Jack shouted, answering the phone on its fifth ring.

Rose could hear that he was in a bar or a club. The music was deafening that she could hardly hear him.

"Jack?" she raised her voice so he could hear her over the music.

"Rose? I can hardly hear you" he shouted back to her.

"Where are you? I thought you would have called." Rose was trying not to sound angry.

"Yeah I was going to but I thought you were angry at me. I didn't know what I'd done so I thought it best if I just left you to calm down." Jack admitted.

"I told you I was fine. I just felt..." Rose suddenly stopped as the sound of a woman's was heard in the background.

"_Jack, come on! I want to dance!" _The woman shouted.

"Yeah, two seconds. Rose? Are you still there?" Jack asked.

"Who's that?" Rose finally asked.

"Just a woman I work with. The whole team are out tonight." Jack saw no reason to lie.

"Ok, well I'll just leave you to it. Have fun." She said abruptly before hanging up the phone.

Jack stared at the phone in disbelief. She was jealous. He couldn't believe it. He knew that Rose had no reason to be jealous. He loved her more than anything in the world. But he could see why she would think that, given how they started. He smiled at the thought of her before typing a quick text message to her telling her how much he loved her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Arghhh!" Rose let out a frustrated scream as she threw the phone across the room.

_Caroline was right. _Rose thought to herself. _As soon as he goes away anywhere, any girl seems to be fair game. Had he just used her? An excuse to break up with Laura? _

Rose tried not to think anymore. She stormed up the stairs into her bedroom, glancing over at the bed where she had Jack had made love so many times since he had turned up on her doorstep. And now here she was, angry and alone while the man she thought loved her was living it up in a New York bar with some tart wrapped around him.

_Two can play at that game. _Rose thought. She quickly got dressed and made her way back downstairs. She grabbed her purse and keys before wandering out to her car. Getting inside she quickly put the car in gear and drove down the street, knowing exactly where she was going.

Meanwhile, Jack had made his way outside to the back of the club he was in. Rose hadn't replied to his text and he had tried calling her cell phone and the house phone and she hadn't answered. Trying to call her again, Jack was getting worried as the phone continued to ring.

_Rose, where are you?_ He asked himself before hanging up the phone again.

"Jack!" he turned as he heard his name. "There you are! I've been wondering where you'd got to!"

Jack smiled as he saw Becky walk towards him. She had been the girl that Rose had been jealous of. Looking at her in the moonlight, Jack could understand why Rose would probably be jealous of her if she had seen Becky. Jack wouldn't deny she was attractive but she wasn't his type at all. Rose was a classic beauty whereas Becky was pretty in an obvious commercial way, looking like she'd just stepped out of a trashy magazine. She had bleached blonde hair and piercing grey eyes which were surrounded by dark heavy make up. She was dressed in a tight body con dress which barely covered her and her feet were pushed into a high pair of shoes.

She walked towards him, sashaying her hips as she moved until she was right in front of him.

"Are you coming back inside?" She pouted her lips and rested her hand on his shoulder.

Jack shook his head. "I think I'm just going to go back to the hotel."

"What?" Becky stumbled forward as Jack moved away from her. He turned quickly to catch her before she fell. She'd clearly had quite a lot to drink. Jack could be feel the fresh hair going to his head, making him feel slightly drunker than he actually was. "Why are you going back? Stay here with me?" she pleaded with him, put her arm around his neck.

Jack looked up at her. She was slightly taller than him because of the shoes she had on. "No, I really should go back. We've a long day tomorrow."

"Ok, well i'll come back with you. Let me just go get my bag." Becky disappeared back into the club and Jack leaned back against the wall. He took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it before gently taking a drag of it. He finally exhaled as Becky appeared back in front of him.

"Come on then gorgeous, lets go." She flirted.

Jack smirked as it clicked to him exactly what she thought they were going back for. _Not a chance Becky! _ He smiled to himself. He knew he loved Rose and wasn't about to do anything stupid. They walked back to the hotel with Jack in silence. Becky talked for most of the journey, only getting one word answers from him but she didn't care. She was quite happy to be in his company as she had had a thing for Jack since he joined their firm and now was her chance. He seemed quite a private person to Becky so she wasn't sure if he had a girlfriend but he didn't wear a ring on his finger so if he was with someone, it couldn't be that serious. She smiled to herself as she stole glances at him while they walked.

Finally they got back to the hotel. Jack looked around as he entered the foyer. It was the same hotel that he and Rose had been staying in when they met. That seemed like so long ago but yet, everywhere he looked, he saw images of her. They made their way to the lift and Jack leaned against the mirrored wall.

"Finally!" Becky said suddenly. She fell against him, pressing her body up against Jack's and letting her lips touch his. Jack was taken by surprise at her abruptness but he quickly pushed her away from him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as if that would mean it hadn't happened. "I've got a girlfriend you know."

"Well its not like you've ever mentioned her!" Becky raged. She wasn't used to being rejected. She felt as though Jack had led her on. He had danced with her all night, bought her drinks and never once mentioned a girlfriend. What was she supposed to think? "You've been leading me on all night!"

"I'm sorry if i've given you the wrong impression but i'm really not interested. I love my girlfriend." Jack sighed.

"Sure she feels the same?" Becky motioned to the phone that was still in his hand. "I saw you outside the club trying to get through to someone. I'm assuming it was her?"

Jack nodded. "She's probably in bed now. Which is where I'm going. Alone" he said as the lift finally stopped at his floor and he made his way out, leaving Becky fuming.

...

Rose had been driving for the past twenty minutes. She knew where she was going but had been circling the block three or four times, unable to make herself stop the car. Eventually she pulled up outside of a house. The lights were still on so he was definitely up. Rose got out the car and walked up to the door. Taking a deep breath, she rang the bell.

"Rose? What are you doing here?" the door opened and the man stared at her.

"I honestly don't know Cal." Rose admitted as he widened the door for her to enter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Jack stared at his phone, willing it to ring. He had tried to call Rose several times on her cell and at the house but she wouldn't answer. He wondered what she was doing, hoping that she had just gone to bed and wasn't mad at him. He didn't understand why she was jealous. In fact, no, he did understand why she was jealous, given how they started. Rose had told him what Caroline had said and it made sense given how she was reacting now. Rose clearly believed that because Jack was away on business, he would do the same thing that he did to Laura. But he was happy with Rose. A lot more than he even cared for Laura. Sighing, Jack placed his phone back on the night stand and buried his head into the soft white pillow, wishing that Rose was beside him.

Across the country, Rose was sitting on Cal's sofa. A glass of vodka in her hand.

"So, Rose...why did you come here?" Cal asked. He was sitting in the arm chair across from her. One leg resting on his other knee.

"I don't know Cal." Rose repeated, taking a large swig of the drink, screwing her eyes tight as it washed down her throat.

"I've heard through the grapevine that you met someone else." He questioned, narrowing his eyes at her. "Does he know your here?"

Rose shook her head. "He's not there. He's working in New York."

"Oh." Cal took a drink of his brandy.

"He's sleeping with someone else." Rose blurted out. The vodka clearly lowering her inhibitions. "Or, at least I think he is."

"What makes you think that?" Cal placed his drink on the coffee table in front of him and leaned towards her.

Rose took a deep breath before finally explaining everything to Cal. She admitted to the fling that she and Jack had when she was in New York and how they had got together when Cal left. She felt awful telling him this. He didn't deserve to be hurt like this. Rose could see his eyes drop to the floor.

"So that's why I think he's sleeping with someone. He did it to his ex. There's nothing to say that he won't do it to me." Rose sighed. She looked up at Cal who was still staring at his feet. "Cal? I'm sorry, for everything. I should have never done this to you. I just didn't feel anything for you. Not love anyway. And you always yelled at me. I just had to find some escape but I didn't expect it to last when I got back."

Cal finally looked up. His eyes were sad looking. "I understand Rose." He finally spoke. "I didn't treat you as well as I should have."

Rose was stunned. She hadn't expected him to accept any blame for what she did. "I'm sorry Cal." Tears began to form in her eyes. She wiped them as they fell down her cheeks. Cal suddenly jumped up and sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Please don't cry Rose." He held her tight to his body. Rose accepted the familiar embrace and ran her arm around his waist. She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. Cal was very handsome, she couldn't deny that and all the bad feeling she had ever had about him disappeared in that single moment. Cal smiled and rubbed his thumb along her cheek bone, wiping away the dried tears before leaning down and kissing her forehead. Rose smiled and lifted her head further until her lips met his. She pressed her lips against his, all thoughts of Jack going out her head. She figured if he was having fun with someone else then what was stopping her.

"No Rose, this isn't right." Cal finally said, breaking away from their kiss.

"What?" Rose was surprised. "What's wrong?"

"You're with someone else. I thought you were happy?" Cal took her hands, gripping them.

"Did you not just hear what I said?" Rose cried, standing from her chair. "He's off banging some girl in an alley way behind some sleazy bar no doubt!"

"Rose, do you honestly believe he loves you?" Cal stood up in front of her. "Do you really think he'd do that?"

Rose shrugged. "I heard her Cal. I heard her when I called him. He never bothered phoning me the whole day after he left. He didn't even let me know he'd got there safely. Then the time I do actually get to speak to him, he's dancing with some girl who's clearly throwing herself at him. And I highly doubt he's resisted." She sat back down again and wrapped her arms around herself. Cal sat down next to her and pulled her close to him. He lifted her chin so she was looking up at him. He smiled before leaning into her again, brushing his lips against hers. It felt so familiar to him, he had loved being near Rose, although he didn't show it very well, he loved being with her. He pressed his lips firmly against hers and enveloped her in his arms. She melted into him and deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around him. Cal pulled her up onto his knee and rubbed his hands up and down her body slowly. Rose started to pull at his tie, sliding it from his neck, before unbuttoning his shirt and slipping it from his shoulders. Cal slowly pulled at her top, lifting it up over her head before throwing it down onto the floor. He smiled as his eyes grazed over her body. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her to be. The corner of Cal's lips curved up at the memory. It had been a while since they had had sex. Even when they were together, they never really made the time for each other in that way and Cal could kick himself for that now. He wanted to show Rose how much he loved her although he knew she didn't feel the same. Standing up from the sofa, Cal reached out his hand to Rose beckoning her to take it. She smiled as she placed her hand into his and he grasped it tightly, pulling her up to him. Rose followed him as he made his way to his bedroom. Cal's apartment was a lot smaller than the house they had shared but it was cosy and it only took them a few seconds to find themselves in the bedroom. Rose sat down on the bed as Cal closed the door behind them, closing it to the world around them.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The next morning, the sunshine streamed through the bedroom window instantly covering Rose's face. Her eyelids tightened together as she tried to shut out the offending light. Reaching her hand up, she rubbed her head, trying to force away the ever growing headache that plagued her. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced around the room trying to work out where she was. Turning around slowly, she suddenly became aware that she wasn't alone. Her eyes grazed over the figure lying next to her. His body was moving gently up and down with his deep breathing and Rose gasped as she remembered where she was. She mentally scolded herself as she quickly relived the night before in her head. As soon as they had got through to the bedroom, she and Cal had quickly removed their clothes and fallen into bed. She had completely forgotten everything, including...

_Jack!_

Her thoughts suddenly went to her blond haired lover. Rose sighed with regret until she remembered why she had come to Cal's home. She was only doing what he had done to her hadn't she? Jack had been with another woman last night, surely it was only right that Rose did the same. Why should he get away with messing her around while she sat at home waiting for him to finally call? But even so, Rose regretted sleeping with Cal. It hadn't made her feel better. If anything it made her feel worse, and cheap. She had given herself to him so easily without even thinking of Jack. What did that make her? Nothing but a cheap slut. She was no better than the woman she had heard in the background when she called Jack. Suddenly all Rose wanted to do was get out of there and go home. She wondered if Jack had tried calling her but then she remembered she had thrown her phone in a fit of rage and it was probably still lying on the floor of their livingroom. She glanced back over at Cal who still seemed to be in a deep slumber, and slowly crawled from the bed. Rose grabbed her clothes that were strewn around the bedroom and crept out the door into the living room. She quickly got dressed and grabbed her purse from the table. She felt bad for leaving Cal without saying anything. He had been there for her when she needed comfort and yet again she was hurting him. The same way she hurt him when she told him about Jack. Looking around her, she noticed a notepad and pen lying on a small table in the corner of the room. Rose quickly scrawled a message to him apologising for leaving without waking him. Making her way towards his front door, she looked behind her back to the bedroom where she could still see the outline of Cal under the crisp white sheets. She sighed as she pulled the door open and made her way out to her car.

...

Jack had been awake all night. He was now worried sick about Rose. He had tried calling her countless times but she never answered. She needed to learn to trust him, he thought. He loved her so much more than he had ever loved Laura. Didn't the fact that he gave up his life, his home for her not show how much he cared? Was that not enough? All Jack wanted to do was jump on the next flight home but he knew he had to stay at least for today. He had work to do and he couldn't let his bosses down. Standing up, he walked towards the bathroom and hunched himself over the sink. He looked up into the mirror and scowled at the tired, gaunt reflection staring back at him. He had dark circles under his eyes, clearly showing his lack of sleep and his hair was tangled from his constant tossing and turning in bed the night before. Jack looked at his watch and realised it was only 6am. He slammed his hand against the sink and stormed back through to the bedroom. He quickly pulled on his shorts and a T shirt and lifted his IPod from his bag before pushing his feet into his sneakers and walking out of the room. He needed to think and find some escape so decided to go out for a run, thinking it would waken him up and make him feel a bit better.

...

Rose finally arrived home. She had driven home in tears, angry with herself for what she had done but more so, trying to decide if she should tell Jack. She couldn't decide if she would be telling him purely to get rid of the guilt that consumed her or because she thought he should know, especially if he had been doing the same thing. She threw her bag down on the sofa and started searching the room for her phone. She finally found it behind a table and groaned as she noticed the small crack on the screen, likely from when it hit the wall when she had thrown it. Pressing one of the buttons, the screen quickly lit up and Rose's heart sank as she realised the number of missed calls and text messages that were waiting for her. Every one of them from Jack. She looked over the times of all the calls, and quickly noticed that they started from just after they had spoken and continued until 5am this morning. Rose looked at the clock and noticed it was just before 7am. The guilt within her grew as she realised that Jack had been trying to call her all night. _How could he be calling me if he was sleeping with someone else? _She thought. It was then that the enormity of what she had done hit her. Jack hadn't been with anyone else and now she'd gone out and jeopardised their relationship by hooking up with her ex. Now she was the one who couldn't be trusted. She read through the texts, each getting more desperate as they went on. She had put Jack through hell, that much was clear but now what should she do? Could she be honest with him now knowing that he hadn't done anything to her? Rose crumbled onto the floor, leaning against the wall and cried. She sat there for what seemed like hours before picking her phone up again. She couldn't call Jack yet, she needed help and she knew the only person who would be able to give her advice.

"You did what?"

Rose and Caroline were sitting in a nearby cafe with Rose hugging her hands round a steaming hot cup of coffee. It was about the only thing her stomach could take right now.

"You heard me Caroline, please don't make me repeat it." Rose pleaded.

"I know, I just didn't think I heard you right. Why would you do that?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know. I just had it in my head that he was out with some other girl." Rose wiped the tears away from her cheek.

"Why didn't you call me? We could have got drunk and just sat and bitched about him." Caroline tried to lighten the mood. "Look, this isn't the end of the world. You felt you were justified because who was to say he wasn't out doing the same thing right?"

Rose nodded.

"I don't think you should tell him though." Caroline admitted.

Rose looked up from her mug and stared at her friend. "What? Why not?"

"Because I think you'd be telling him purely to try and rid yourself of the guilt. What is telling him going to achieve? You're only going to end up hurting him and ultimately, he may walk away. As long as you're sure it's never going to happen again, then you put it down to stupidity and forget about it. Look at you having to put up with the guilt as punishment for doing it, why would you put that pain onto him? He hasn't done anything wrong." Caroline reached over and grabbed Rose's hand, rubbing her thumb across her knuckles.

Taking a deep breath, Rose nodded. She looked at her watch and realised it was now 8.30. She really should call Jack. She took another drink of her coffee and stood up. "I need to speak to him."

Caroline nodded. "Call me later and let me know how it goes."

"Thanks for coming to see me." Rose bent down and kissed her friend on the cheek before making her way out of the cafe and walking the short distance back to her house.

...

Jack quickly grabbed his phone from his suit pocket as he heard the familiar ringtone he had assigned for Rose.

"Rose?" he answered it quickly which must have took her by surprise as he heard her gasp on the other end of the line. "Rose? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" she finally answered. She had decided to take Caroline's advice and try to put her error in judgement behind her. "How are you? How was your night?" she asked sarcastically.

"Look Rose, I don't know what's going through your head but nothing happened with me and Becky." Jack felt he was trying to convince her, which annoyed him, because he felt that she should trust him anyway.

"She has a name?" Rose found herself being unnecessarily mean to Jack but she felt she had to keep acting the same way she had the night before. If she had suddenly changed her tune, would Jack have suspected something?

"Rose don't act like that. I can't believe you don't trust me." Jack felt frustrated. This was ridiculous. Was this going to happen every time he had to go away for work? He didn't know if he could put up with that. He fell for Rose because she seemed so carefree and easy going but now they were together, it was like something that changed and she had suddenly becoming controlling, possessive and jealous. Just like Laura was. He couldn't deal with that again. "I love you Rose but you need to trust me." Jack was suddenly aware the line was deathly silent. "Rose? Are you there?"

"Yes." She finally said. "I know, it was just hard with it being the first time you were away, then hearing her in the background."

"I know." Jack didn't know how honest he should be with Rose about last night. He took a deep breath. "To be honest, she did try it on with me."

"What?" her voice had suddenly become louder.

"But I stopped her Rose. I told her I loved you and I walked away from her. I spent the whole night trying to get in touch with you. How could I have done that if I was with her?"

"I know Jack, I know." Rose agreed.

"Just on that, how come you didn't answer?" Jack queried.

"Oh." Rose stuttered. "I went to bed. I left my phone in the livingroom." She thought it over, it was partly true, she just didn't say who's bed she was in.

"I called the house as well. Didn't you hear it ring?" Jack asked.

Rose started to panic, thinking he suspected her. "No, I was really tired, I didn't hear it ring at all." Again, not entirely a lie.

"Oh. Ok. Anyway, I'm coming home tonight. Will you be getting me at the airport or will I just make my own way home?" Jack wasn't sure how much she believed him but he knew his conscience was clear.

"I'll come and get you. What time?" Rose looked at her watch. It was now 9am and she planned on going straight back to bed once she had finished talking to Jack. She wanted to crawl under the covers and never come back out again.

"I land at 10.45."

"Ok, well I'll see you about 11." Rose mumbled.

"Ok. I love you Rose." Jack wished he was with her to show her exactly how much he loved her. He hated being away from her but at least he would be home, in his own bed tonight.

"I love you too Jack." She replied before hanging up the phone. She ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time and jumped into bed, burying her head into the pillows on Jack's side. She could still smell his aftershave and as soon as her nose sensed it, she burst into tears again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Jack stared out the window as his flight came into land into LAX. His mind was constantly on Rose and what he was going home to. He had no idea if she was still angry with him. The whole day had been a nightmare. After finally hearing from Rose after being up all night worried, he had to go to his office where he had to face Becky. She stared at him like he was something on the bottom of her shoe, clearly still pissed off that he had rejected her but Jack couldn't even bring himself to care about her. He was suddenly disturbed from his thoughts as the plane made a bumpy landing into the runway. Eventually, the seat belt signs came off and Jack stood up to put his coat on and lift his bag from the over head locker. He smiled at the stewardess as he disembarked from the aircraft and made his way out to the front of the airport. He checked his watch and saw it was nearly 11pm so he knew that Rose would be waiting for him. He glanced up and down the cars parked outside until he finally rested his eyes on the sleek silver mercedes. He couldn't hold his smile in as he rushed down to the car and opened the door before sliding into the passenger side. He turned to the flame haired beauty sitting beside him and reached over placing his hand gently on her leg. She tensed up as she felt his touch which concerned Jack. Was she still mad at him?

"Rose?" he finally spoke, willing her to face him.

Rose closed her eyes before slowly turning to face him. Jack gasped as she turned to him and he saw how red and puffy her eyes were, tears slowly falling down her porcelain cheeks.

"Rose? Whats wrong?" Jack gripped onto her leg tighter.

"I'm so...so..." Rose started, stuttering through her tears.

Jack pulled her to him, wrapping her up in his arms and holding her tightly to his chest. "You're so what?" he whispered.

"Sorry." She finally answered.

"Rose. I understand why you did it alright?" Jack pulled her away from him and stared into her eyes. She suddenly stopped crying and a confused look fell over her face.

"You mean...you know?" Rose couldn't understand. Had someone told him? Had Cal got a message to him out of anger for her leaving him?

"Yes, I know. You were worried about me going off with someone because of how we started." Jack smiled. "But you have nothing to worry about, I swear to you. I would never do anything like that to you."

Rose looked up into his eyes. So full of honesty and truth. Her heart began to ache. He didn't know. He didn't know anything about her indiscretion. How could she tell him now? Caroline was right. She'd be telling him only to make herself feel better.

"Rose? Are you alright?" Jack placed his hand on her cheek.

Rose wiped her cheeks before nodding her head and smiling. "Yes. I'm fine now you're home."

Jack smiled and pulled her to him again. "I love you Rose." He whispered into her hair. She gripped onto his shoulders and buried her face into his neck, taking in his beautiful scent.

...

"So how are things going?"

Caroline and Rose were sitting outside a coffee shop next to their office taking in the summer heat on their lunch hour. It had been a few weeks since Rose had slept with Cal and she had been doing her best to put it behind her.

"Yeah, alright." Rose took a drink of her latte.

"Just alright?" Caroline lit up a cigarette before handing one to Rose.

Rose lit it and took a quick drag. "Yeah, I'm doing ok. I'm just trying to forget it all."

"Have you ever heard from Cal since you walked out on him?" Caroline asked.

Rose nodded taking another drink. "He called me the next day. Asked me what I was playing at, how I could mess him about like this and that I better not do anything else to piss him off or he'll tell Jack everything."

Caroline's eyes widened. "Has he ever called again?"

Rose shook her head. "I think his ego was just a bit bruised. I don't think he'll say anything to Jack. He doesn't even know him."

"Yeah but think about it. Jack is this guy who took you away from him. Then you told him you thought Jack was cheating so you slept with him, then you disappeared in the morning without even saying anything to him." Caroline shrugged.

"Yeah thanks for that." Rose pouted. "You don't think I know all this?"

"I'm just saying. If Cal was a woman, this would have never been left alone." She smiled, taking another drink of her coffee.

Rose sighed as she placed her head in her hand. "Surely if he was going to do something, he'd have done it by now?"

Caroline shrugged and took another draw of her cigarette before stubbing it out in the ashtray. "Come on, we should get back." She said, looking at her watch.

Rose quickly finished her drink before following Caroline back to their office, trying to put the thought of all this behind her. She made her way back to her desk, closing her office door behind her. She sat down in her large leather chair before swivelling around to look through the ceiling to floor windows which allowed her an impressive view of downtown LA. She smiled and closed her eyes as she tapped her fingers on the arms of the chair before finally being woken from her dream with the sound of the phone ringing. She swung round and pulled herself into her desk before pressing the loudspeaker button on the handset.

"Rose DeWitt Bukater." She said, whilst logging back onto her computer.

"Rose?" the voice came from the speaker. It sounded cold but calm.

"Yes?" Rose stopped, trying to place the voice.

"It's Cal."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Cal?" Rose felt nerves build up inside her wondering what he could possibly want. "What's up?" she tried to sound as casual as possible.

"I wanted to apologise for how I spoke to you before."

Rose lifted the handset up, wanting to make sure no one could hear their conversation.

"I just was upset that you left that morning without even waking me." Cal continued.

"I know, I'm sorry. Guilt just took over me I guess." Rose admitted.

"I understand that. I just wanted to clear the air with us." Cal sighed. "Listen, If you ever want to get together and have a drink or talk, just give me a call."

Rose leaned back in her chair, placing the phone back down after Cal had hung up. Her mind was swimming with different emotions. How was this the same man that she had left a couple of months before? Cal had always been selfish, uncaring, uninterested but now, he was offering her help and support. The night she had gone to him, he had made her feel like she was the only woman in the world. He had never made love to her like he had done that night. Rose couldn't understand what had changed and now she felt utterly confused. Although she hadn't regretted going to Jack, she was starting to wonder if they had maybe needed that push to make them see what they meant to each other? Maybe she and Cal had been taking each other for granted and going with Jack had made them see that. But she loved Jack. This was insane. Why was she even contemplating this? Rose ran her hands through her hair before finally standing up. She'd had enough for the day and needed to get home. Rose switched off her computer and lifted her coat and bag before making her way out of her office, closing the door behind her.

"Rose?" Caroline saw her heading for the elevator. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not feeling too great." She lied. "I'm going to go home."

Caroline gave her a quizzical look. "Okay then, feel better." She watched her as the lift doors closed.

...

Jack was already home and had made a start on dinner when he heard Rose's car pull up into their drive way. He slid the baking tray into the oven and closed the door over before turning and watching Rose appear in the front door.

"Hey, how are you home so early?" Jack walked over and kissed Rose on the cheek.

"Oh, I just didn't feel so good so thought i'd come home early." Rose smiled and made her way to the kitchen. "Something smells good."

"Salmon." Jack winked before lifting a bottle of wine from the fridge and pouring a glass. He handed it to Rose who was now sitting at the large island in the middle of the kitchen. She smiled gratefully as she took the glass from him and took a large drink. Her mind was working overtime. She had no idea what she should do but she looked over at Jack as he made his way around the kitchen preparing them dinner. This was something Cal would never do. Even if she had been working late, Cal would be sitting with his feel up watching TV waiting on her coming home to cook. She pushed the thoughts from her mind as Jack served their meals at the dining room table. She made her way over and sat on the chair opposite from him and began eating as he started telling her all about his day.

"I need to go away again." He said suddenly.

Rose stopped eating and looked up at him. "What?"

"I found out today." Jack admitted.

"So is this what all this is about?" Rose motioned to the meal in front of them. "You thought you'd butter me up before mentioning this?"

"No. Rose, I make dinner for us most nights." Jack tried to defend himself.

Rose looked down, defeated. She knew it was true. She couldn't remember the last time she had cooked a meal for them. "When?" she finally asked.

"Thursday." Jack said, taking a bite of his fish. "Just for one night. I'll be back Friday evening."

Rose nodded. She refused to get drawn back into a jealous rage this time. "Will she be there?"

Jack knew exactly who Rose was referring to without even thinking about it. He nodded quickly. Rose sighed as she took another drink of her wine.

"Rose?" Jack reached over and grabbed her hand. "You have to trust me. Nothing is going to happen. She's a work colleague and that is it. I'm not interested in anyone else."

Rose looked down at their hands and gripped his tightly in hers. "I know." She whispered.

"Now come on. Let's stop this nonsense, finish our dinner then go upstairs." He gave her a flash of his killer smile and winked at her causing her to laugh for the first time in a long time.

...

Eventually, Thursday came around and Rose had kissed goodbye to Jack as he had left early that morning before she went to work. Once she had finally got ready, she made her way out to her car and pulled out of the drive and headed downtown to work. After parking her car, she made her way inside, grabbing a paper and a coffee on her way inside. She finally made it up to her floor where she was greeted by her assistant, Sophie.

"Oh good morning Rose. I've left several contracts on your desk which need to be signed. Your 11.30 appointment has been pushed back to 12.30 and your 4pm had to cancel." Sophie said, taking Rose's coat from her.

"Thank you Sophie." Rose said, stepping into her office.

"Oh, and a man has been calling here for you all morning but he wouldn't say who he was. He's left some messages on your machine." Sophie smiled before turning away and rushing to the closet to hang up Rose's jacket.

Rose stood and stared at her for a few seconds before closing her office door and making her way over to her desk. She sat down and stared at the machine that was blinking red with the number 4 indicating how many messages she had. She knew they couldn't have been from Jack because he'd be on a flight to New York right now. After hesitating, she finally reached forward and pressed the play button. Her breath caught in her chest as she heard Cal's soft sultry voice come over the speaker. The messages started innocently enough, asking how she was, if she had any plans for the weekend but then came the final message.

"_Look Rose, I know Jack's gone tonight. I wondered if you might have dinner with me? I'll cook. Nothing serious, just thought we could talk, like I suggested before. Call me."_

Rose felt as though she had frozen to her chair. Why was he doing this? How did he know Jack was gone? Rose replayed the messages again and deleted each one as they started. Pushing his voice from her mind, she took a drink of her coffee and started preparing for her meeting, grateful that it had now been pushed back.

...

Jack had finally landed in New York and had made his way to his hotel. He did some of the work he needed to do for the next day before finally getting ready to meet some of his workmates for dinner and some drinks. He had called Rose when he landed to let her know he was there since he remembered how angry she had been when he hadn't done that the last time. She had seemed cheerful on the phone and Jack hoped they could finally move on from all this jealousy nonsense. He quickly sprayed on some aftershave as he was getting ready before lifting his wallet and phone and heading down to the lobby to meet everyone. Jack knew that Becky would be there but this time, he planned on avoiding her as much as he could.

After dinner, they made their way to a new bar which was having its opening night. Jack could sense Becky staring at him through the meal but he refused to even entertain her. As they made their way inside, Jack followed his boss towards a large table where he took his phone and wallet from his pockets and placed them down before taking a seat. Becky sat down in the chair next to him but turned her back to him to talk to a friend of hers. Jack was glad of it and enjoyed his night without having to deal with Becky's dramas. After he finished his drink, he checked his watch. It was only 10pm so he decided to stay for another couple of drinks. He stood from his chair and lifted his wallet from the table and offered everyone a drink. After taking a note of what everyone wanted, he made his way to the bar, feeling Becky's eyes burning a hole into his back. She watched him disappear through the crowds before turning back to the table. She was the only one left as the others were up dancing. Becky sighed as her eyes fell onto the table and rested on the phone that was sitting beside her. Jack's phone. She smiled to herself as she looked up and back to the bar where she could see Jack was still ordering the drinks. Quickly she reached over and grabbed his phone, slipping it into her pocket. She got up and made her way through the crowds just as Jack was going back to the table.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just to the bathroom." She smiled sweetly before walking past him. Once she got into a cubicle, she closed the door and took Jack's phone from her pocket. Luckily it didn't have a lock on it and she screwed her face up at seeing him and Rose as the screen shot. It was the first time she had ever seen Rose and annoyingly, Becky couldn't deny she was extremely beautiful. She kept scrolling through the contact list until she came to Rose's name. She locked the phone there and made her way back out to the bar and sat down again, worried that Jack might have noticed his phone was gone. But she neednt have. He handed her a drink as she sat and Becky smiled at him as she took it before he turned round again to continue his conversation. Becky sat for a while trying to decide what she was going to do. Her eyes scanned the room as she noticed someone staring at her from the other side of the bar. She smiled and took another drink before standing up and walking towards him, an idea creeping into her mind.

Jack turned and watched her walk over to the man and shook his head as she overly flirted with him and after a few more drinks, he noticed her disappearing with him.

Becky followed the man to a quieter part of the bar before sitting up on one of the bar stools. She split her legs slightly and allowed the man to stand between them. As she forced laughter at one of his lame jokes, she searched her pockets for Jack's phone. Once she found it, she wrapped her arms around the man and pulled him to her as he begun nuzzling her neck. As he did this, Becky unlocked Jack's phone and smiled as it was still at the same page with her phone number on it. Pressing the dial button, she held the phone in her hand, keeping it out of sight.

"Hello?" Becky smiled as she faintly heard Rose's voice answer.

Becky started giggling, loud enough so she knew Rose would hear. "Stop that!" she laughed. "Mmmm that feels nice."

"Oh Becky, you smell amazing." He murmered as he kissed her neck.

On the other end of the phone, Rose was sat on her sofa completely numb. Becky. That was the name of that girl from the last time. How stupid could he be? Actually being stupid enough to let his phone call her? Rose listened for a while longer as the two voices continued laughing and giggling together.

"Why don't we continue this in my room?" Becky asked. Rose sat waiting for a response, pleading that Jack would somehow come to his senses.

"Sure. Let's go." He had said. With that, Rose had heard enough. She cut the call off and sat silently staring at the phone, trying to work out if she had really just heard that. Becky noticed the phone light back up indicating that Rose had hung up and smiled to herself. She placed the phone back in her pocket and gently pushed the man from her and looked at her watch.

"Actually, I'm really sorry, I didn't realise how late it was. Raincheck?" she smiled sweetly.

"Sure darling. Why don't you just give me your number?" he grinned.

Becky smiled and nodded, taking his phone and typing in a fake number. "Make sure you call me some time stud." She winked before walking back to the table.

"You don't waste much time do you?" Jack smirked, as she sat down beside him.

"His breath stank." Becky said, taking another drink. Jack laughed before standing up and heading towards the bathroom. When Becky was sure no one was looking, she took Jack's phone from her pocket and placed it behind his glass, acting as innocent as possible when he came back.

"I'm going to go back to the hotel. I'll see you all later." Jack said, finishing his drink and lifting his wallet and phone, putting them into his pocket without even looking at them. Becky mentally patted herself on the back as she watched him leave.

When Jack finally made it back to the hotel, he kicked off his shoes and took off his jacket, removing his phone and wallet. He looked at the time. It was only just after 10pm in LA so he thought he would call Rose before going to bed. He held down the button which had her on speed dial and put the phone to his ear as he sat down and began taking his socks off. To Jack's surprise, it went straight to voicemail. _Rose never has her phone off. _ He thought to himself. He tried to think nothing of it as he left her a message before plugging the phone into the charger and climbing into bed.

...

Across the country, Rose's phone was lying in pieces on their living room. After she had thrown it against the wall, she climbed in her car and made her way across to Cal's where she now was, wrapped up in his arms and within his sheets.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Jack slowly wandered down the street towards his office. He had been trying all night to get hold of Rose but was constantly greeted by her annoying answer machine. Phoning their house was proving useless as well and Jack couldn't help but worry. She had seemed fine when he spoke to her once he had landed in New York the previous day and she had said she was going to have a bath and an early night so why was her phone off? Jack proved utterly useless throughout his meeting. His mind was constantly on Rose and his boss had noticed him looking tired and dishevelled.

"Jack?" Paul, his boss called him as the meeting ended. Jack looked up at him as he gathered up his things. "A word?"

Jack sighed. He knew he was in for it.

"Are you alright?" Paul motioned for him to sit down. Jack shook his head and took his seat, placing his head in his hands. "What's the matter?"

"I'm worried about my girlfriend." Jack admitted, quietly as the rest of their team made their way out of the conference room. Becky was last to leave and strained her hearing as she made her way outside. "Her phones off. It's never off because she needs it for work and I can't get her at home. I'm worried something's happened." Jack felt tears start to threaten so he cleared his throat and wiped his cheeks trying to stop them from falling. Becky quickly closed the door behind her and leaned against it. What if she had went too far and Rose had done something stupid? Surely she wouldn't do anything like what Jack was clearly thinking? She was probably just really mad and switched off her phone so she wouldn't have to speak to him. That had to be it. Becky reassured herself before making her way to the coffee machine.

"Do you have any other reason to worry apart from the fact her phone is off?" Paul asked.

Jack shook his head. "Everything was fine when I spoke to her yesterday afternoon then I thought I'd call her when I got back to the hotel last night but I didn't get any answer. It's not like she'd have been asleep. She said she was getting an early night but it was only about 10 o clock. Plus even if she was sleeping then, it doesn't explain why her phone isn't on now. She should be working."

"Have you tried calling her office?" Paul suggested. Jack shook his head causing Paul to raise his eyebrow. "Maybe you should try that?"

Jack quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled Rose's works number.

"Miss DeWitt Bukater's office." A voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Um...Hi...I'm sorry, I was looking for Rose." Jack stuttered. Rose always answered her own line.

"Who's calling please?" the woman asked.

"This is Jack. Her boyfriend." Jack was growing impatient now.

"Oh I'm sorry, Miss DeWitt Bukater hasn't come into work today." The woman explained. "Surely if you're her boyfriend, you would know this?"

"I'm working in New York today." Jack snapped. "What do you mean she's not there? Has anyone heard from her?"

"She hasn't called in I'm afraid. I'm sure we'll hear..." the woman started.

"What about Caroline McAllister? Is she in?" Jack interrupted. The woman took in a deep breath and Jack could hear her moving around.

"Yes she..."

"Can you put me through to her please?" Jack pleaded.

"Very well. Hold please." Jack could tell he'd annoyed this woman but at this point he didn't care. He heard the line click and a familiar voice came over it.

"Hello?"

"Caroline?" Jack asked.

"Yes?"

"It's Jack. I'm looking for Rose. Do you know where she is?" Jack looked up at Paul who was still sitting with him.

"You've got a damn nerve phoning here." Caroline suddenly shouted, completely taking him by surprise.

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" Jack's face fell as he listened to Caroline completely tear hi m to pieces.

"What? You thought it would funny? Leave your phone on while you get it on with some random tart? You thought Rose would see the funny side? Or have you wanted to finish with her for some time but just didn't have the balls to do it to her face? You just thought you'd do it in the cruellest way you know how?" Caroline raged. Rose had called her up before she went to Cal's in tears and told her everything and needless to say, Caroline was furious.

Jack suddenly jumped to his feet, taking Paul by surprise. "What? Wait a minute, Caroline what the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh Jack, don't act it with me. Maybe you didn't phone her deliberately but when you hooked up last night, your phone called Rose and she heard everything." Caroline explained.

"Caroline, I swear to god, I wasn't with anyone last night. I went out for a few drinks then went straight back to the hotel. I tried to call Rose then and it went straight to voicemail." Jack couldn't believe this. What had Rose heard? It definitely hadn't been him.

"Oh please, she heard you with that Becky. She asked you to go back to her room and you agreed." Caroline told him.

Jack suddenly sat back in his chair. "Who did you say?"

"Becky." Caroline repeated. "Have you been with that many different people that you forget?"

"Caroline shut up a minute." Jack shouted. "Becky? Did you say Becky?" Paul looked up at him with a confused look on his face.

"Yes of course I said Becky. You know that same tramp that you had hanging all over you the last time you were away?"Caroline said sarcastically.

"Nothing has ever happened with me and Becky. I swear to god, I'm going to kill her." Jack thought back to the previous night, trying to think of anything that would explain all this.

"Yeah well she's well rid of you Jack. I told her you would do this to her. I told her you would cheat the same way that you did when you met her." Caroline continued, ignoring Jack's request to be quiet.

"I haven't cheated on her! I swear to god I haven't. Becky, she's done this somehow. I don't know how but she's done all of this and I'll prove it. Caroline, please just tell Rose that I'm coming home. Tell her we need to talk? Please just do that for me?" Jack begged her.

"Fine. But I can't guarantee she'll want to see you. She's moved on now." She told him.

"What do you mean?" Jack sat back down again.

Caroline took a deep breath. "When she heard you with Becky, she went to Cals." She knew that despite everything, that would hurt Jack but she wanted to hurt him. She wanted him to hurt like Rose did.

"She what?" Jack felt the tears start to fall from his eyes. He had been sitting for hours worried sick about her and all this time, she had been with her ex, in his arms, in his bed.

"She thought you were cheating. So she wanted to do the same thing to you. See how you like it." She explained.

"But I didn't do anything!" Jack insisted.

"Yeah right." Caroline mocked. "Look Jack, I need to go. I've got work to do. She'll talk to you when she's ready."

Jack hung the phone up without saying anything. He wasn't even sure if he wanted Rose to talk to him now. He knew his conscious was clear but now he knew that Rose couldn't say the same thing. She had cheated on him. Fair enough, she thought he had done the same thing but two wrongs don't make a right and he couldn't believe she would do this to him.

"Jack?" Paul interrupted his thoughts.

"I'm going to kill her." Jack whispered, suddenly standing from his chair.

"Look Jack." Paul stood along with him. "Don't do anything you'll regret. Just go to the airport and try to get on an earlier flight and go home and sort this. You're no good to me like this." Paul patted him on the shoulder and led him out the door.

"Thanks Paul." Jack forced a smile before making his way along the long corridor, trying to ignore the stares coming from people at their desks who had clearly heard all the commotion coming from the boardroom. Just as he approached the lifts, the doors slowly opened and Becky stepped out.

"You!" Jack yelled, picking up his pace towards a startled Becky. "What the hell have you done?"

Becky stared at him. "What are you talking about Jack?" she smiled, trying to walk past him but he threw up his arm, blocking her way.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've done something! Why does my girlfriend think I was with you last night? Why does she think I slept with you?" Jack shouted.

Becky glanced behind him, now aware that everyone was staring at them. "If your girlfriend doesn't trust you then that's not my problem!" she yelled, storming past him leaving Jack standing there speechless. His eyes fell over all the confused faces before he finally turned round and rushed into the waiting lift. As soon as the doors closed, he sank to the floor with his head in his hands, tears rolling down his cheeks. Eventually he forced himself to stand up just as the doors opened again and rushed from the lift, almost knocking down those who were standing outside it. He mumbled apologies to them before rushing outside the building and hailed down a passing cab.

"JFK please." Jack said, leaning back against the seat. He pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at it for a few minutes before finally starting to scroll through it. He looked at his dialled list and checked over the times he had called Rose. There was all the calls through the night that he mad made. He knew that he had started calling Rose at around 1am his time but before that, he hadn't spoken to her since around midday when he landed. Looking over the times, something caught his eye. A phone call made to Rose just after midnight that lasted for over 4 minutes? Jack thought back to the night before. He tried to remember what he had done in the club. He had gone up to get drinks a few times but hadn't ever remembered lifting his phone. It would have been fairly easy for someone to pick up his phone...and Becky had been sat beside him all night. She had to have done it. She had to have taken his phone. But how did she make it sound like him? Jack thought harder until he finally remembered the guy that he had seen Becky with. She had been all over him. Did she have his phone then? Jack slammed his fist down onto the seat and screamed out. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have made it so easy for Becky to try and ruin his life? Part of him wasn't sure if he wanted Rose back but he was determined to clear his name.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"And you believed him?"

"I'm just telling you what he said." Caroline stubbed out the cigarette she was smoking into the ashtray on the table in front of her as she watched Rose pacing about the kitchen. "He seemed genuinely surprised by the whole thing. I mean I obviously couldn't see him but when I mentioned that Becky, he flipped."

"Yeah well he would wouldn't he? He knows he done wrong." Rose took a seat on one of the bar stools across from Caroline and put her head in his hands.

"He seemed more angry at you if I'm being totally honest." Caroline shrugged.

"At me? I was just playing him at his own game. What does he expect? He goes away every couple of months and hooks up with the first girl he sees and I'm just supposed to sit here and take it?" Rose wiped the tears that fell from her eyes.

"Well, honestly when I spoke with him, I gave him a piece of my mind but he really didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I just think you need to talk to him." Caroline explained, placing her hand on Rose's. Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.

"What time is it?" Rose asked, wiping the rest of the tears away.

Caroline looked up at the large clock in the living room. "It's almost 7. Did he get an earlier flight?"

"Possibly." Rose shrugged.

"Wait here, I'll go get it." Caroline stood up and made her way through to the foyer to open the door, leaving Rose behind to finish off the large whisky she had poured herself. "Um...It's not Jack." Caroline appeared back in the kitchen to a confused looking Rose. The confusion disappeared as Cal appeared behind her. "I'll leave you two to talk. Call me in the morning Rose." Caroline smiled, leaning down to kiss her friend on the cheek before making her way outside.

"What are you doing here?" Rose finally asked.

"I was worried about you. You rushed off again this morning. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." Cal smiled.

"I'm fine. I just needed to deal with some things. Can I get you a drink?" Rose stood up and made her way to the bar.

"Please. I'll have a scotch." Cal sat down on the large sofa.

Rose nodded and proceeded to pour the drinks before making her way into the living room and sitting down beside Cal on the sofa and handing his glass to him.

"Look Rose, I don't know what's going on with you and this Jack guy but I do know how upset you were when you came to me last night. I know I never treated you as well as I should have but I would never do anything like that to you, you know that right?" Cal put his glass down and took her hand in his.

Rose looked up at him before taking a long drink from her glass. "I just don't know what to think anymore Cal. I thought I was happy with you, then I met Jack and he made me feel alive again. Then when I came home and you told me that you thought we should stop seeing each other, I suppose in a way, I was grateful that I hadn't had to hurt you. But it's just not ended up the way I thought it would. Caroline warned me that he would do this to me. She was well aware of how we had got together and how Jack was with someone when we met. She told me that he would do the same to me but I didn't listen."

Cal took her glass from her and placed it down on the table. He turned back to face her, taking her hands tightly within his. "I think I was too hasty Rose. I think that I ended things too quickly without really thinking things through. I think we just started to take each other for granted and for that I apologise." Cal lifted her hands and kissed her knuckles softly.

"Cal, I..." Rose started.

"Please, don't say anything." Cal leaned forward and gently kissed her red lips. He pulled away slowly, watching her intently waiting on a reaction. He gazed into her emerald eyes, trying to read them. She smiled as she leaned towards him and pressed her lips gently against his, pulling him towards her. She pulled back from him and stood up, holding her hand out to him which he happily took before following her up the staircase.

...

Jack paced his apartment over and over. He had arrived back in LA a couple of hours before and had intended to go straight to Rose's but would she just take his word for it? He had decided to wait around for a while before driving back to the airport. Becky was due to fly back in on the same flight that Jack had been previously booked on and he was determined to make Rose see the truth, even if it meant dragging Becky to their home to confess everything. He had thought over the fact that Rose had gone back to Cal and part of him could understand why she had done it. It killed him to think of his Rose with another man but after thinking it over for hours, he decided that he could forgive one indiscretion. Rose was the most important thing in his life and there was no way he was going to lose her over something as ridiculous as this. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as he drove to the airport. Jack parked the car and rushed into the arrivals hall, his eyes searching the boards to see if Becky's flight had landed. After reading over all the flights, he finally spotted hers and realised that it had only just landed. He turned back to the arrivals door, waiting on everyone to start coming through. After a few minutes, an impatient Jack was ready for cracking when the doors finally opened and the arrivals hall was filled with people. His eyes glazed over everyone that came through until he finally spotted the bleached Barbie hair style appearing. Rushing through the crowds of people, he made a beeline for her, grabbing her arm.

"Hey!" she screeched, drawing attention from those around her until she realised who her "attacker" was. "Jack! What the hell are you doing?"

"You are coming with me and you're going to help me fix this!" Jack growled, pulling her towards the exit.

"What are you talking about?" Becky rushed, trying to keep up with him.

"Rose won't talk to me and there's no way she'll believe me if I go over myself. You need to come with me and you're going to tell her exactly what you did." Jack led her to his car and opened the door, forcing her inside before putting her bags in the back seat. He walked around and got into the drivers side and closed the door before turning back to Becky. "I'm laying my heart on the line here Becky and I'm appealing to the good person that I know there is somewhere inside you. My relationship is hanging by a thread here thanks to you and I need you to help me fix it. If you have any compassion in you and you want to save any type of a friendship between us then you'll help me. Please?" Jack pleaded with her, grabbing onto her hand.

Becky looked him over and realised just how far she had gone. She looked into his eyes and felt awful for what she had done. "Ok Jack, I'll go with you. I'll tell her."

Jack smiled with relief. "Thank you." He said as he started the car up and pulled out of the car park. They sat in silence all the way back to Rose's and Jack stared up at the house as he pulled up outside it.

"Who's car is that?" Becky pointed to the large black car sitting in front of them.

"I don't know." Jack admitted. "Come on, let's get this done with."

They walked up towards the house and Jack slowly opened the door. He stepped inside and looked around the foyer and then the living room.

"Where is she?" Becky asked, wandering through to the kitchen.

"I've no idea. Stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Jack said, making his way up the staircase. Becky watched him go before sitting down on the couch, taking in her surroundings. Jack could certainly pick them. This house was unbelievable. Becky glanced through the dining room to the large patio doors where she could see the lights shining down onto the large pool.

"_Are you fucking kidding me?!"_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Becky suddenly turned her head to the staircase as she heard the commotion coming from upstairs. She stood up as she watched Jack tear down the stairs towards her. "We're going." He yelled.

"What's happened Jack?" Becky asked before she was distracted by movement at the top of the stairs. Her jaw dropped as she saw Rose appear wrapped up in a sheet followed closely by Cal who was stood in a pair of boxer shorts.

"Jack, what the hell are you doing here?" Rose shouted from the top of the staircase.

"Me?" Jack spun on his heel to face her. "I came here to try and save our relationship but clearly you had other ideas."

"Who is she?" Rose pointed down at Becky who was standing beside him now.

"This is how we would have saved our relationship. This is Becky." Jack pulled her to him.

Anger appeared on Rose's face. "You thought you'd save our relationship by bringing the tramp you cheated on me with round to my house?"

"Hey hold on a second." Becky suddenly stepped towards the stairs but was quickly pulled back by Jack.

"That's where you've got it all wrong Rose. I haven't done anything. Tell her!" Jack turned to Becky, trying to encourage her with his eyes.

"Ugh, fine!" Becky sighed. "Nothing happened with us alright? I called you while I was with someone else. I stole his phone and called you because I wanted to split you up because I wanted Jack but he never even entertained it. Nothing has ever happened between us."

"Yeah right I'm sure." Rose rolled her eyes.

"Did you ever hear me calling that guy Jack? Did you ever hear the name?" Becky asked.

Rose thought for a second.

"No. Because I never called him it because it wasn't his name. I don't even know what his name was." Becky sighed. "I swear to you this is the truth. I was angry because he knocked me back the last time we were away and I wanted revenge."

Jack looked from Becky up to Rose who was now looking completely deflated.

"Look, I'm going to go." Cal finally said, turning to make his way back to the bedroom.

"Oh no!" Jack called after him. "Don't you bother. Look Rose, I knew that you had gone to him when I was away and judging by what you thought of me, I'm not surprised. I was willing to forgive that one night but this? You wouldn't even give me a chance to explain? You knew I'd be coming home tonight and you bring him round and into our bed?"

"Actually Jack, that is my bed." Cal interrupted.

"Please don't get smart." Jack snapped.

"And Rose didn't invite me round. I just came to see if she was alright." Cal confirmed.

"Well I can see that you've managed that just fine. As far as I'm concerned Rose, you two deserve each other. I've cleared my conscious and that's all I came here to do. I'll be round to get my things when you're at work tomorrow." Jack turned towards the door. "Come on Becky, I'll take you home."

"Jack please." Rose called down to him, tears falling from her eyes.

Jack opened the door and motioned for Becky to go out. He watched her as she started to walk before turning back to Rose. "I hope you know exactly what you've lost Rose. You'll never be happy with him." She said, pointing to Cal. "You weren't happy with him before, you're not going to be happy with him now. Jack treated you right and I apologise for getting involved but it shows me exactly the type of person you are that as soon as things get rough, you jump into bed with the first guy you see. You don't deserve someone like Jack." Becky smiled before turning and walking out the door with Jack following behind her.

"Goodbye Rose." He said, looking up at her one last time before closing the door behind him.


End file.
